Disclaimer: I don't own "Castle" but I've asked for it for my birthday tomorrow so we'll see if ABC and Andrew Marlowe & Co. are feeling super-generous.
Author's Note: A sort-of post-ep to 7x6 "Time of Our Lives"—another one—and a sequel to my other fic, "By the Power Vested in Me" because I wanted to write a little more about Brad Langford and then I read Wild Storm and had to write the conversation between Castle and Kate about it. So spoilers for the dedication of Wild Storm and a few minor spoilers for characters in the book but I tried to keep it all fairly vague so as not to give away any of the big plot points, in deference to Castle's artistic sensibilities, as Agent Shaw would put it. Also referring back to S3's "Poof! You're Dead" because I've been wanting to write about the end of that ep basically since I first saw it.
A Writer's Life and Love
Castle preceded Judge Brad Langford into his study and flicked on the lights, making his way straight to the shelf in the corner where the stack of complimentary author copies of his books sat, grabbing a haphazard stack of copies of Raging Heat and Wild Storm. And not for the first time reflected that this was exactly why he always made a point of keeping a number of the complimentary author copies of his books here in the Hamptons, even though generally he didn't do signings in the Hamptons and most people here didn't blink an eye at his (minor) celebrity status, since there were so many other richer and even-more-famous people wandering around.
He went to his desk, grabbing his favorite rollerball gel pen that he generally liked to use when signing books and opening up one of the copies of Wild Storm to the dedication page.
"Okay, Brad, what's your mother-in-law's name?" he asked.
Brad glanced back from where he was perusing the bookshelves. "Latisha."
"Right, Latisha. One personalized message to Latisha coming right up."
Castle, of course, had a stock of a few impersonal messages that he wrote for fans but he was happy enough—if distracted—and felt like he owed more to Brad for the immense favor of officiating his marriage to Kate—he was married to Kate!—that he spent a couple minutes thinking before he scrawled a brief message and his signature.
And smiled as he reread the printed dedication right above his own handwriting. The one for Wild Storm had been an easy one to write, even to keep it anonymous as he would as it was for a Derrick Storm book and not one of the Nikki Heat books. To my Always. You make saving the world magical.
Anonymous and yet personal too as no one aside from himself and Kate really knew the significance of the word, Always, but since the dedication was for Kate, she was the only person who needed to understand it.
He opened up the next copy of Wild Storm. "And your mother's name?"
"Nicole."
Castle looked up with a small laugh. "Well, in that case, I think I'll write her message in the book about her sort-of name-sake."
Brad grinned. "I wouldn't say so to her face but sometimes I wonder if part of the reason my mom loves Nikki Heat so much is because of her name."
Castle grinned. "As good a reason as any for liking Nikki," he quipped as he pushed Wild Storm out of the way after just quickly scrawling his signature and picked up Raging Heat instead, opening it up to the dedication page.
He thought a moment and then wrote a quick message addressed to Nicole, adding that she had a great name, and then, after a moment, another sentence that she must be very proud of her son. Castle might have only met Brad Langford a few hours ago but, entirely aside from gratitude, he liked the man. And he could tell from watching him interact with his family over dinner that they liked him as well. Besides which he knew enough about parenting to know that any praise of a child would mean more than even the most personal message from any author ever could.
That done, he moved on, opening up another copy of Raging Heat. "Now, your wife's name is Cheryl?" he asked, although he didn't really need to. He remembered it—rather surprisingly, since Castle would honestly not have sworn to his recall of anything that had happened in the last few hours that didn't directly involve Kate.
Kate. His wife. Kate.
It was irrational and silly—he'd seen her less than ten minutes ago—but the thought of her, the mental image of her, had him suddenly impatient to see her again, to touch her again even if it was only to slide an arm around her shoulders. To see the warmth in her eyes as she smiled at him, feel the way she leaned into his touch. Wanted to see the rings on her finger—his rings on her finger—and remind himself that this was real, that Kate was really his wife now.
He wanted to write a generic "thanks for reading" message in his sudden impatience but he pushed the impulse away. He owed better than that to the wife of the man who'd just given up an evening with his family on no more than a couple hours notice for this, who had married him to Kate. Just for that, he thought he'd never be able to repay Brad Langford at all.
"Yes, that's right, Cheryl," Brad confirmed.
"We'd like to meet her," he offered on an impulse. "Next time we come up, we'll have you and Cheryl over for dinner or something." We. It occurred to him he loved that word, loved that he'd just extended an invitation for the future on behalf of himself and Kate, the two of them, together.
"Cheryl will be thrilled," Brad grinned. "To meet not only her favorite author but the real Nikki Heat? It'll make her entire month."
Castle grinned back. "Then it's settled. Whenever we're next visiting, dinner for you, me, Cheryl, and the real Nikki Heat," he added laughingly.
"The real Nikki Heat? Castle, what are you promising on my behalf?" Her voice made his head jerk up to stare at the door of his study, startled. He almost always knew when she was around—he joked sometimes that it was a sixth sense, his Kate sense (although more prosaically, he figured it was usually her scent that announced her presence but it was also more than that)—and so he was surprised that she could have come to join him and Brad without his noticing. Wow, he really was distracted, in a haze of happiness tonight.
Brad laughed a little. "Nothing nefarious. Only that you'll both have dinner with me and my wife the next time you're in town."
Kate smiled. "That would be a pleasure. I'll look forward to it."
Quickly, Castle wrote a quick message to Cheryl, thanking her for being a fan and for being so gracious about letting her husband miss a family dinner in order to officiate his own wedding ceremony and then putting into writing the invitation he'd just extended to Brad. That done, he closed the book and then quickly signed just his name on the covers of the other books without the messages in them.
He sensed Kate coming closer, heard her footsteps even on the rug in his study, and then she was placing a tote bag on his desk. "I figured Brad would need something to help him carry all those books."
He looked up at her and grinned. "I seem to have married a practical genius."
Married. His heart flipped inside his chest at the word. Nope, not used to it yet.
She laughed. "It doesn't take a genius to know that carrying six books won't be the easiest thing in the world to do without the help of a bag to carry them in."
He raised his eyebrows. "Speaking from experience there, Beckett?"
Something flickered across her eyes at this and he mentally replayed his words and then couldn't help but smirk a little at the realization that it was over his automatic, unthinking use of her last name—her work name—remembered the way she'd introduced herself to Brad earlier that evening as Kate Castle.
Kate Castle.
His heart flipped all over again at the memory, remembered the impact of hearing her say her new name. He'd never heard it before; neither of them had said it even in the brief conversation they'd had where she'd told him she would keep her name for work purposes but change it for everything else. Kate Castle.
"You know I read, Castle," she said lightly enough and then turned her smile to Brad, who'd been a silent observer to their little interplay. "Sorry, Brad, we're being terribly rude."
Brad waved a hand. "No, no, don't apologize. You are newlyweds, after all, and I believe it's been said before that a little general rudeness is a good sign of being in love."
Castle chuckled. "'Is not general incivility the very essence of love?'" he quoted.
Kate smiled. "Jane Austen," she identified immediately. And damn, if he didn't love that about her too, that she was such a reader and, more than that, that she was a smart enough reader that she remembered quotes, even relatively obscure ones, from her favorite authors and could identify them so quickly.
"Right," Brad agreed.
"One of my favorites," Kate added with another smile.
Castle stood up and quickly stacked the six books inside the tote bag, making sure that the books with the personalized messages were paired with one that was just signed. "Six books, signed and with messages, as promised," he said as he presented the bag to Brad.
He moved around the desk to clap a hand on Brad's shoulder. "And thank you, again, for everything."
Brad grinned. "It was no trouble. These books will more than make up for it. And if I leave now, I'll be home in time to tuck my kids into bed."
"Well, in that case, we won't keep you any longer. I know how important it is to be around for bedtime," Castle agreed easily.
"Yes. Tell your wife we look forward to meeting her," Kate chimed in beside him.
"I'll do that, thank you. And Rick, Kate, congratulations again."
Castle slipped his arm around Kate—realizing belatedly that she'd slipped out of her heels and so was shorter than he was accustomed to her being—as they accompanied Brad to the front door. "Thanks, Brad. Tell Chief Brady we said hello next time you talk to him."
"I'll do that." Stepping outside, Brad turned back to shake their hands and then added, "Thanks for the signed books, Rick. You're about to make me a hero to my mother-in-law for months."
Castle laughed. "Glad I could help. Have a good night."
He and Kate watched as Brad made his way back to his car and then raised a hand in a last wave before getting in to his car and then he closed the door and promptly drew Kate into his arms. She came against him readily, her head resting easily, perfectly, against his shoulder. (He loved it when she didn't wear heels. As hot as she was in her heels, a small part of him—the primitive, uncivilized male part of him—also really loved the height difference when she wore flats. He'd never said as much to Kate—likely never would since he was fond of his body parts staying where they were, thank you very much—but it was true that sometimes, he really liked the way he could rest his head on her hair when she was against him like this, liked the way she fit against him like this.)
"Alone at last, Mrs. Castle," he breathed against her hair.
She laughed softly. "Not quite yet, Castle. Our family's still awake and in the dining room."
Our family. He felt a little frisson of happiness go through him at the words, Kate's easy melding of their families into the one family unit that they now were. And the thought reminded him of what Alexis had told him earlier, how Jim had offered to let her call him Grandpa Jim.
He felt a warmth in his chest. "Our family," he repeated. "Your dad told Alexis she could call him Grandpa Jim," he told her quietly.
And sensed her small smile. "My dad cares about Alexis too. He's heard a lot about her over the years and anyway, who wouldn't love Alexis after meeting her?"
He grinned and tightened his arms around Kate, dropping a kiss on her hair, just for saying that. "I love you, you know," he murmured.
"Mm, I believe you may have mentioned that a time or two before."
He laughed. "It's possible. Tired of hearing the words?"
It was her turn to tighten her arms around him, resting her head against his shoulder. "Never," she answered immediately.
"That's good because I don't plan to stop saying them."
Kate lifted her head to press a quick kiss to his chin. "Come on, Castle, we should get back. Our family will be wondering where we've got to."
Our family—there it was again. "Hey, Kate," he murmured.
"What, Castle?"
He met her eyes. "When we get back to the City, we should go to the cemetery." He knew Kate would have gone anyway but he should go with her this time, he thought, should officially pay his respects to his now mother-in-law. And he wanted to be there with Kate. He could only imagine how much both Jim and Kate had missed Johanna today and he knew Kate's first visit to her mother's grave after their wedding would be an emotional one so he wanted to be there.
Her eyes became rather too shiny with sudden tears but she gave him a soft smile. "Yes, we should." She kissed him, softly, tenderly. "I love you," she whispered into his ear before she drew back.
And he thought, not for the first time, that he really would do anything if it meant that Kate would still be here, beside him, loving him.
He turned, keeping one arm around Kate, and walking with her back to his study. He had accidentally picked up an extra copy of Wild Storm that was sitting on his desk so he went over to return it to the shelf along with the other complimentary author copies of his latest books.
"Thank you for the dedication," Kate said suddenly.
He glanced up at her to see that she was looking at Wild Storm in his hand. He put it down on the shelf and then returned to her. "You're very welcome but you know, all my books will be for you in the future."
She smiled. "You don't need to promise that, you know, Castle. The dedications to the Nikki Heat books so far are enough for me."
He shrugged. "Well, whether the dedications say so or not, all my books will be for you. You're my muse, remember?"
"I might be your muse but can I just say that the next time you decide to name a character after me, you'd better make her less of a damsel in distress?"
He blinked at her. "Name a character after you? You mean, aside from Nikki Heat?" But that didn't work since Nikki wasn't named after Kate at all.
"Katie Comely? Not very subtle but thanks for the compliment."
Oh right. Katie Comely. "Her name aside, she wasn't meant to be you, not really. At least, not you you. I was thinking more in terms of possibilities, of what young Katie might have done if, well, if things had been different," he said, not wanting to mention her mother's murder in so many words but knew she'd understand.
A flicker of melancholy passed over her face but then she managed a small smirk. "The female Indiana Jones part was kind of cool."
He grinned. "Yeah, well, you as a female Indiana Jones would be totally hot."
She laughed. "Did my dad ever tell you that I dressed up as Indiana Jones for Halloween one year?"
His eyes widened and he couldn't help but think that he might have just fallen in love with her all over again because, really, as if dressing up as Gene Simmons once for Halloween wasn't cool enough, she'd also dressed up as Indiana Jones? And she knew and read comic books too. She was the perfect woman. "Pictures, Beckett. I demand to see pictures of this."
"You'll have to ask my dad."
He made a mental note to do just that. "And Kate, you know Katie Comely really wasn't meant to be you. She was too… minor of a character to be you. There's too much to you to ever be a minor character."
"I get entire books, is that it?"
"Of course."
She laughed. "Thanks, Castle. By the way, can I ask, did Alexis give you a hard time for what you did to Pi in the book?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," he retorted with mock innocence.
Kate gave him one of her trademark skeptical looks and he caved—what, she knew him too well for him to be able to pull off an act with her. "She wasn't exactly happy about it, no, but then she didn't find out about it until long after they'd broken up and she'd already told me once that Pi wouldn't dream of reading one of my books so I figured I was safe." Not happy about it was a rather severe understatement to describe Alexis's reaction when she'd read that portion of the book but he didn't like to think of that. In hindsight, he acknowledged that it had been a petty, stupid thing to do, especially as Alexis had broken up with Pi and Pi hadn't been, in retrospect, that bad—he hadn't hurt Alexis at least. But at the time he'd written it, Pi had still been very much around and he himself had still been very much upset by it so he'd resorted to his time-honored way of dealing with anything that bothered him—writing it out.
Kate looked amused. "Describing Pi as the leader of a cult and then stating outright that he was every father's nightmare? Not subtle, Castle, not subtle at all."
"It was a couple lines at the beginning of the book, not a big deal, Beckett," he said rather defensively even though he knew she was only teasing him.
The same flicker of expression passed over her face and she gave him a small, rather teasing smile. "It's Kate Castle, or have you forgotten so quickly?"
God, he loved her. He tugged her into his arms. "I'll never ever forget that, Kate," he breathed and kissed her, not quite as deeply as he wanted to, but they were in his study and their family was just a handful of feet away. He could still hear the vague murmur of their voices, the sound of Alexis's laugh, if he listened for it.
He let his lips skate up her cheek to the sensitive spot just below her ear lobe and felt his heart soften and melt—and do a triumphant jig—at the breathy little sigh she gave and the way she sagged against him. He loved knowing he could affect Kate like this, loved knowing the little ways and places she liked to be touched, the intimate knowledge of a lover.
Married. They were married now.
The thought flitted through his mind with the same sort of awe it had provoked all evening.
"You know," he murmured quietly, "I may not have been thinking of you when I wrote about Katie Comely but I was thinking about you when I wrote about other characters in the book."
She drew back just enough to look at him. "Which characters? The ones you named after the boys or the little mention of Rook?"
"No, actually, it was William and Alida McRae."
A confused frown flickered across her face. "The scientist and his wife? Why? You're not saying you expect me to become a gardening, baking housewife, are you?" she quipped.
He laughed. "No. I fell in love with the kickass detective, remember? No, I was thinking about you when I wrote about their marriage, their relationship." He remembered writing about William and Alida; he had personalized the story, written about their marriage in a way that was unusual for him. While he'd written about happy couples in his books, it was usually a passing mention; in writing about William and Alida, somehow the words to really delve into their still-vibrant marriage after more than forty years of marriage had come easily, naturally, to him.
Her expression softened. "When you wrote about how happy they still were with each other?"
He shrugged a little, half-embarrassed. "I wrote for them the relationship I want us to have in forty years."
"Richard Castle, master of the macabre, is a sap."
He made a small face. "Don't tell anyone."
She laughed softly. "Your secret's safe with me." She rose up on her toes to whisper in his ear. "And I like it that you're a sap but if you tell the boys I said so, I might have to shoot you."
He laughed. Only Kate would say something like that in such a seductive whisper. And he would never stop being surprised by her.
"I won't tell if you won't tell."
She laughed and then she kissed him.
Afterwards, she nestled her head against his shoulder with a soft sigh, pausing to nuzzle her nose against his throat and then nudge the collar of his shirt aside in order to kiss his neck. And he closed his eyes, thinking that he loved, loved, loved these little touches, caresses, Kate gave him. Loved these indications of how much she liked being so close to him. He would never have expected Kate to be a snuggler, someone who was touchy-feely outside of bed, but she'd surprised him, in this as in so many other things.
"Mm," she hummed quietly. "I like it here."
He smiled. "We don't have to go back to the City immediately, could still stay another day or so if you want to."
He felt her smile against his skin. "That wasn't what I meant, although yes, I do like it here in the Hamptons too."
"What did you mean then?"
"I meant that I like it here," she murmured, nuzzling his throat on the emphasis.
He let out a crack of delighted—and surprised—laughter. He would never stop being surprised by her, would he? "You like my throat?"
She tilted her head back to smile up at him. "Don't get smug, Castle, but yes, I do. It used to drive me crazy sometimes whenever you showed up at the precinct with your top buttons undone, always made me want to do this," she added, burying her face against his throat and then he felt her tongue dart out to lick his Adam's apple.
He swallowed and managed to croak, "Remind me never to wear a tie again."
She laughed softly as she drew back. "I don't know about that, Mr. Castle. I might insist on you wearing ties when I'm not around so no other woman gets to see this view of you."
He smirked. He couldn't help it. "Jealous, Mrs. Castle?"
She gave him a patented Kate Beckett eye roll. "I knew I was going to regret telling you this."
"You know you love me for my ego."
She huffed out a little breath but he could see the smile threatening the corners of her lips, one of those looks she'd given him so many times in the years before their romantic relationship had started, when he'd still mostly been the cocky, irritating jackass who pulled her pigtails and annoyed her at work. Admittedly, back then, she'd been much more successful at hiding any amusement she felt—and he'd been less good at reading her expressions. "Wrong, Castle, I love you in spite of your ego," she corrected him rather tartly.
His smirk faded into a real smile. "But you do love me and, Kate, with the possible exception of Alexis's love, there's nothing in my life that'll ever mean more to me, nothing that could make me prouder and more humble too than knowing that you love me."
"You really are a sap, Richard Castle." Her words were teasing but her expression was not.
He shrugged a little. "It's our wedding day. I think sappiness is required."
She laughed softly and rose up on her toes to kiss him quickly. "Come on, Castle, our family's probably waiting for us."
She stepped back, taking his hand, and he went with her happily, turning off the lights in his study on their way out, returning to the dining room where they were greeted by his mother with an exuberance that was likely enhanced by the champagne and wine she'd been drinking. Out of deference to Jim, neither he nor Kate had had wine with their dinners (and obviously, Alexis hadn't either)—and, honestly, cliché as it was, he felt half-drunk from happiness as it was so real alcohol wasn't necessary.
Kate released his hand, going over to slip into Brad's now-vacated seat next to Jim, while he returned to his own seat next to Alexis, dropping a kiss on her hair as he did so.
She gave him a bright smile and he slipped his arm around her shoulders, tugging her in against him as he watched Kate talking and smiling at Jim.
And found himself thinking about the Wild Storm dedication again, mentally editing it. She didn't just make saving the world magical. She made everything magical.
Magical. The word reminded him suddenly of that case from years ago, involving Zalman Drake of Drake's Magic Shop. Remembered what Kate had said about the "bubble" of magic, the rush of a new relationship in those early, heady days of a romance, that the bubble wouldn't burst "if you were in it with the right person."
He looked over at Kate again, remembered—again—the way he'd felt when he saw her that afternoon for their wedding, remembered so many other little moments from the last couple years. And he smiled. Kate had been right. The magic, the romance, was still there, after all this time, all they'd been through since becoming a couple—Kate's job in D.C., his father's momentary reappearance in their lives, Bracken, his estrangement from Alexis, his own disappearance, everything.
Kate was definitely the right person—and she made everything magical.
~The End~
A/N 2: I hope you enjoyed this shameless bit of fluff—and I finally managed to write a fic about "Time of Our Lives" without referring to the vows! Thanks, as always, for reading!