PRETENDING
A\N: I wrote this just for fun, so if there are any mistakes, they all are mine. Hope you enjoy it. This is a one shot Kate\Esposito friendship. Everyone else come in the end. Except Captain Montgomery…. Cause he's… um… he's dead. :P
A stormy Friday night, all the lights were low. Kate sat in her apartment, looking at the case files and drinking a hot mug of coffee. She had just spoken to Alexis on the phone a few minutes back and found out that she was going to he Hamptons for the summer, and told her to enjoy her summer. Kate was surprised that Rick was only dropping his daughter and not going with her. She heard the door bell ring and goes to open it to find Javier Esposito standing there with his hands full, with plastic covers of food, and drenched wet.
"Oh my god, Esposito what are you doing here? I thought you would be with Lanie. And look at you, you're soaked, come on in, I'll get you a towel."
"Yeah thanks." –he looked a bit shaken and shocked, she didn't know why.
After Esposito wipes his hair off, he takes out two bottles of beer and hands one to Kate and sits down. Kate asks him –"Javie what are you doing this late out here?"
"Actually Beckett, I came to talk to you."
"Go on." –She didn't know where this was going, if it was about Montgomery… and the things that had happened a month ago.
"It's about Castle." –he started.
"Is he okay, nothing happened to him right?" –shot back a worried Kate.
Esposito chuckled, he looked a bit scared of what he was going to say then he took a sip of his beer started opening his burger and took a bite and then spoke –"He's…. well he's physically and mentally disturbed."
"What. Are. You. Talking. About?" –said Beckett a bit confused.
"Hear me out. For three years he's been following you, running around and helping you catch bad guys, but that's not the only reason he's been following you lately."
Oh boy, she knew where this was going. But still she sat and heard what Javier had to say.
"You remember last summer Kate?"
She snorted and said –"How could I forget? That's one of the days I want to forget but can't."
"Remember what I had told you, before giving Castle his surprise going away party?"
"Yeah, that I had to break up with Demming and go with Castle to the Hamptons."
"Um… that's not exactly what I said, but you got the point anyway…. That time."
"What do you mean "That time"? –shot back Kate
"Your hiding Kate, in these nowhere relationships with men you don't even love, you might care about Dr. Motorcycle boy, but deep down I know it, everyone knows it that your heart belongs to only one person; Castle."
"Esposito, where is this going? Cause that's what castle said, that I was hiding in these relationships. "
Again he fidgets after hearing Castle's name and then says - "You know very well where it's going, think Kate, you know the answer to the question you've been asking yourself all this time."
"And what would that be?" –she challenged Esposito, she wanted to know the truth, she was finally ready to hear it out from everyone even if it scared her, even if Castle and she were not in their best terms after what happened at the Hangar and after she getting shot, them getting back together as partners and solving crime, and Josh….
"That you LOVE CASTLE, yes Kate it's coming from the most non-romantic guy at the precinct. Yeah, I've noticed how he looks at you Kate, he's good for you, he makes you happy, smile, which all of us always kill to see. We worry about you girl, you keep getting yourself in situations so dangerous that we get shit scared. Don't put yourself through hell."
"That's what Roy had told me and thank you Javie, but-"
"No let me finish, you remember me telling you that Castle wasn't at the precinct for research anymore, well that true, when you were shot he was the one crying his head out, not Josh. When you were shot, he was the one that stayed overnight to look after you, Not Josh, when you were unconscious he would never leave your side, not Josh, but when you woke up and he was out for coffee, Josh was by your side telling all the crappy stuff a normal boyfriend would do by saying that "I love you Kate, and I will be there for you." But did you ever think what Castle actually told you? He meant what he said Kate, every word. Even the part when he told you that he loved you, he meant it! And I know that you've been ignoring that question, acting as if it never happened, but Kate it will happen someday."
She looked at him shocked and at a loss of words.
" I'm sorry but you're being an idiot Beckett, loving someone and dating someone else, that's total nonsense, I mean I know it and you know it too that for Castle, research was done after being with you for a year. And after that he only wanted to be with you. Montgomery wouldn't have wanted you two like this, he… he would have thought that you two would work out your personal problems out on your own." –Esposito continued.
There was a stunned and awkward silence.
"I remember you telling me that he could write a fifty books with the amount of research he'd done." –she said quietly after sometime.
"And I am saying it again Kate, don't lose him this time." –he said even quieter. The rain drops started pouring faster and faster.
"Did Lanie have something to do with this?"
"I swear that I came on my own, I just told her that I needed to talk to you."
"And she let you do that?"
"C'mon Beckett who are you kidding, just think about it okay? I'll tell you this, Castle might have done one thing wrong by leaving with that blonde bimbo and not called you, but if I or any other guy were in his position, they would have left you a long time ago, the only reason he stuck with you till the end was because he already had fallen in love with you."
"Javier…" –she whispered.
" He might have made that big mistake of going and not calling, but he never repeated his mistakes Kate…. And I hate to tell you this, but you're not learning from your mistakes."
Kate looked at Esposito, he looked really disturbed and worried. "Javi, what happened?"
No response.
She asked again. "Javier Esposito, look at me and tell me what's wrong!"
"Castle was in a road accident, with Alexis."
"Oh my god! You're telling me NOW!"
Beckett was furious, she was mad at Esposito for not telling her sooner. But she should have done the math when he looked all fidgety. She asked him –"What happened… I mean how are they?"
"Everyone is at the hospital, Alexis was thrown out by Castle before the car hit the truck. No news on Castle yet, but Alexis is fine only a bit shaken, and has a broken wrist."
"I'm going, you could have told me a BIT EARLIER."
"I told Lanie and Ryan to keep me updated, they told me to talk to you even though I was the one who wanted to inform you that he was in an accident, they told me it was about time you had some sense knocked in you. Their words not mine."
"I'll talk about this later, but you coming now?"
"I've got my car, c'mon lets go."
"Will we ever have a happy ending, or will we forever only be pretending.
Will we always be pretending?"
"Any news?" –shouted Kate as she hurried towards Lanie, Martha, Ryan and Alexis who was standing with a sling arm.
"Nothing, all we know is that he's alive and breathing." –said Lanie
"We think that this truck driver had some thing to do with older cases and we caught him, he's in our lockup, he hid the truck but we spotted it and said something about revenge, but we wont find anything until Castle's awake." -Ryan spoke who looked really tired.
"How long back did this happen LANIE? You should have told me, Esposito was going nuts out there and finally told me cause I GOT IT OUT OF HIM. Why didn't you call?" –shot Beckett.
"BECAUSE WE THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE WITH JOSH! Okay! I cant take it anymore Kate, you really think that Josh is the one for you? You really think you would be here if Castle wasn't there to save you at the hangar? And you STILL want to be with Josh! Please stop pretending Kate…. Please, it'll hurt you more." –said Lanie losing all her patience and control.
"Dr. Parish, please calm down its Detective Beckett's life, she knows if she is doing the right thing or not." –said a weak voice of Alexis, from behind Ryan.
Kate felt like going and hugging Alexis, but Alexis was right, she indirectly meant that Kate was ruining her life.
"Alexis in case you haven't noticed, your father is a part of her life now! So she really must stop thinking and start doing. Kate honey you need to wake up, you need -." Snapped Lanie but Kate cut in.
"ALRIGHT! FINE, I ACCEPT IT, I'M IN LOVE WITH CASTLE OKAY? I LOVE RICHARD FREAKING CASTLE! YOU ALL HAPPY NOW?" –shouted Kate, losing her temper.
"Turn around and say that again one more time will you?" –came a voice from behind.
Kate froze, her brain stopped functioning. She dared not turn around, because she knew who was there behind. But he was supposed to be in coma! She knew that it had all come down to this. This was the final showdown!
"Beckett won't you turn around and say that again one more time, I think my ears weren't doing their job properly." –said Rick Castle's patient voice.
Kate's legs were numb, she wasn't able to move, think or even breathe, how the hell was he here. He was supposed to be in surgery for crying out loud! She turned around and asked –"You…. Were supposed to be in coma? How… how did you get out, were you even in the freaking COMA?"
"No but I did break my hand, and I had a slight concussion, Ryan and Esposito might have added a LITTLE spice to the story. The truck did hit the car and I did push Alexis out before it hit the car, but I jumped from the car exactly when the truck hit the front seat and injured my hand. I landed on the cemented area of a path and hit my head and blacked out . I was glad Alexis was okay, it was all the guys and Lanie's idea for adding some spice in the story, I never had to play a part in this one, I swear! They told me that they were going to show me something I was waiting for, for a long time. I had no idea that they were going to make you confess like that! I didn't even know they could take stuff out of KATE BECKETT." –he spoke in a hurried tone.
But when he was about to speak again Kate rushed towards him and hugged him, which made him shout in pain –"Beckett my head hurts."
"Oh sorry…. Don't scare me like that again okay Chuck Norris!" –Kate said and then she gave him a kiss on his lips.
Lanie sighed and squealed –"You even have a NICKNAME for him, how cute is that!"
It looked like Lanie was about to pass out, seeing all the romance in the air, she went and hugged Esposito and told him quietly –"Thank you, for making her see sense, I didn't want her to live through hell, after what happened last month."
"Hey don't thank me Chica, we didn't want her to go through hell either, it was terrible seeing our boss that broken." –Esposito said and kissed Lanie on the forehead and looked at Castle and said-"You take care bro, we all got to head home, Ryan you need a lift?"
"Nah man, I agreed to drop Mrs. R and Alexis home." –spoke Ryan from the corner.
"Oh okay, Beckett you don't have a car, I'll drop you two home okay?" –offered Esposito looking at Castle and Beckett.
"Thanks but I think we'll walk it down. You take Lanie home." –said Kate.
"WALK IT DOWN ARE YOU-" Esposito almost shouted but Lanie held his ears and his voice subsided.
She told Esposito in the ear –"Let them at least have a looooong romantic walk Javi, we owe them that!"
"Okay." He whispered back.
"Alright then, see you guys on Monday?" –asked Ryan
"Yeah bro, see you on Monday." –said Espo.
"Yeah, hope a body drops." –Castle replied while Beckett just did her famous eye roll.
"You both… enjoy your weekend alright, and girl… take care of Castle." –said Lanie
Kate nodded and blushed. Everyone was outside the hospital when Esposito took her to a corner and said –"Listen Beckett, I'm really sorry for what I did. But we really needed to see you see sense! It was horrible see Castle break like that, see you break. You, after you were shot, he cried day and night and stayed at the hospital too, he even broke into the hospital after visiting hours were over. We had to tell you that he cares about you."
"I'm glad you made me see sense Javi, I needed some time to think over what happened after Montgomery's death. But I was going to tell Castle anyway. But thanks." –she smiled and gave Esposito a hug and went towards Castle, took his hand and looked towards Esposito and waved goodbye.
Kate shouted back at Esposito -"Oh and Javi, you are not the MOST NON ROMANTIC GUY IN THE PRECINCT." Esposito shook his head and walked towards his car.
Their friendship over the years had become strong, they were all family, even if not related by blood, because they understood each other's needs and feelings. They were family. After losing Montgomery they were broken peices but they were the immediate family that would never part.
All of them knew, that whatever obstacles would come in their way, they would face them together. ALWAYS.
A\N: How was this one? I wanted it to be an Esposito\Kate friendship one shot, but it ended up being a family one shot. But still there is more of Kate and Esposito scenes. I enjoyed writing the scene where Castle tells Kate to turn around and say it once more. I found it funny for some reason. Oh and the song was from Glee: Pretending, it's an original. What was your favourite scene? Oh and gold stars for those who review. Love A. R. Claire.
P.S: I ALWAYS end my stories with Always... so weird huh, who knew Castle would be so addicting? :P :D But I'm not complaining. :D :D