a.n. I know I said I was going to stay away from Castle for a while, but hey, I had this idea and decided to go with it. Not too sure on the length of this one, could be 10 or 20 chapters.
This AU from about ¾ into 2x24.
Disclaimer: I assume that ABC just cancelled Castle. Because if they were selling it…well I'd still not own it. Too damn poor.
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"Beach house? Thought you were working this weekend," Castle asked, wondering why she would lie.
Looking sheepish, Kate said, "Yeah. I'm sorry, Castle. I should've just told you. I just didn't want things to be awkward between us, now that Tom and I are together."
Trying to control his instinctive response to being lied to (after all, he'd had quite enough of that in his life, thank you very much), Castle replied, "No, I get it. Yeah. No you want your private life to be private."
"Yeah I just don't – don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable," she said, happy that he was taking it so well.
Castle's first instinct was to tell her he was done following her (though cloaking it as if he had planned to get away from her all along). But he liked shadowing her, and didn't want the decision to stop to be made at the drop of a dime. Though he had been thinking about ending their 'partnership' ever since Tom Demming had come into the fray. She had been treating him differently, almost like she had when he had first started to shadow her. Cold, indifferent, instead of being a valued part of the team. It had bothered him, but he had always had a thick skin when it came to that sort of thing (years of bullies at boarding school having toughened him up), so he had stuck around despite how she was treating him.
Now this lie was just another thing leading him to the same conclusion he had been unwilling to see for the last several weeks: She feels nothing for me. It was hard for him to admit failure, but it seemed to him as though his love was unrequited. It hurt.
"It's fine, Kate," Castle said finally. "So what's next with the case?"
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Friday May 28
The case was finished and they had ordered pizza and beer to celebrate and start the three-day weekend off with a bang.
When Demming showed up to meet Kate, Castle watched from his chair next to Esposito, who was trying to down his fourth bottle of beer.
"Kate, you ready to go?" Demming asked from the doorway.
"Yeah," Beckett said excitedly. She got up, grabbed her jacket, and walked to the door where Demming wrapped his arm around her waist.
"See you guys Tuesday," Kate said to the room in general, then allowed herself to be lead out. Castle watched her go. It was obvious she was happy to go away with her beau. He had been thinking about his future ever since he uncovered her lie. He was 40 years old. He could no longer sit around and wait for his dream life to come to him. He had known he felt something for Kate Beckett since their second case together. She had hated him, of course, but he only saw that as a challenge. It wasn't until her apartment blew up that he knew for sure. He was in love with the lovely detective.
The problem was she obviously didn't feel the same. He had thought they were making progress, but once Tom Demming showed up, she had just gone right back to putting Castle back into his proper place in her eyes. Writer boy. That was all he would ever be to her. The plucky sidekick.
It was time for him to make a change. He stood up and said goodbye to the boys in blue, told them he'd see them on Tuesday and made his way out of the 12th precinct. He had things to do. It was time to say goodbye to Kate Beckett and move on with his life.
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Tuesday June 1
Richard Castle walked into the 12th precinct for what he planned on being the last time. The weekend hadn't been fun at all, but he'd gotten through. He'd made his plans, and had scheduled some meetings for the next week that would help him in his future plans.
The first thing he was planning on doing was ending the Nikki Heat series. While he liked the character, writing it would be much harder without Kate Beckett in his life. As he was almost done with the second book, he had decided that he would negotiate with Black Pawn to cut the contract back, so that he only had to do one more book instead of two. He already had some ideas for the next character, so he didn't think Gina would be too hard to convince. If they weren't willing to renegotiate the contract, he would suffer through, but would find a new publisher when he was over. As he was Black Pawn's bestselling author, he didn't think he would really have to threaten them that much.
He would spend the rest of the summer finishing Nikki Heat for good. He had plans for when Alexis came back in the fall, and he had hopes that she would go along with them.
Now it was time to end the 'partnership' he had relied on for the last two years. He wasn't looking forward to the conversation that he knew needed to happen, but then, it was his life. He was done wallowing in a pool of unrequited love. He had stuck around because he believed he had a chance. Now that he knew that wasn't the case, it was time for him to move on. She could be happy with her detective boyfriend, and Castle might be able to finally find his third time's the charm.
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Kate smiled when he put the coffee cup down on her desk near her elbow. She'd had a great weekend. Tom was such a nice guy, but more importantly, he wasn't Richard Castle. She knew that in a way she was using Tom Demming to hide from her feelings for her shadow, but she just didn't trust Rick Castle with her heart. After all he was a two-time loser. She wanted one and done, and she was convinced that Castle couldn't offer her that.
"Good morning, Castle," she said, smiling brightly. Her good mood, however, was dampened somewhat by the grim expression on her shadow's face.
"Good morning, Detective. Do you think we can talk privately?" She had never heard Castle sound so serious before. Even in the hairy situations they had found themselves in over the last two years, he'd always tried to keep things light. A feeling of dread crept up on her, but she nodded and got up from her chair.
When they got to the break room, Castle shut and locked the door behind them.
"What did you want to talk about, Castle. I don't have all day."
Grimacing at her cold tone, "I'm here to say goodbye, actually."
The feeling of dread changed to a bone chilling fear. "What do you mean," she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
"I've really enjoyed our time together, Kate. But it's just time for me to move on. I've got all the research I need for the last Nikki Heat books. I've got some ideas for a new character that I want to start researching.
"And…it's been clear for the last few weeks that you don't really want me around."
"What-Castle, that's not true. I…" Kate protested.
"It is true, though, Beckett. Ever since Demming came into your life you've reverted to treating me like you did when we first met."
"Is that it, you're leaving because of my relationship with Tom? That's none of your business, Castle!" Kate said defensively.
"I know that. I know. Look, it doesn't matter. I don't want to get into an argument. I really had a great time with you these last two years. It's just time for me to move on and start something new."
"So this is it? You just worm your way into my life, then just up and leave once I start relying on you." Oh. So she was going to play the guilt card. He should have known that this wasn't going to be easy. Kate Beckett never allowed anything to change without a fight.
Before he could retort, she said, "Fine. You want to leave, then go. Just don't expect me to care when you come crawling back." With that she stormed out of the break room, nearly breaking the glass in the door when she threw it open.
Castle sighed. He had hoped that they could end their time together on a good note, but alas it hadn't happened.
Moving with regret, he moved around the 12th precinct Homicide division, saying goodbye to the friends he had made over the course of two years. Esposito and Ryan tried to give him a hard time about it, no doubt thinking they had to protect their sister. Lanie was sad to see him go, but he could see that she understood. Montgomery was also sad to see him go, and made Rick promise to keep holding their weekly poker games.
When Richard Castle walked out of the precinct for the last time he missed Kate watching him from the shadows. She hadn't been able to hold in the tears after their time in the breakroom, so she had fled to the bathroom. When she had gotten ahold of herself, she had watched as Castle said goodbye to everyone on the fourth floor. He wasn't even gone yet and already she missed him.
She watched as he caught the elevator, and had to blink back tears as the doors closed. She had thought that he would be by her side always. She hadn't thought about his feelings, or how her relationship with Tom might affect her partnership with Castle. In fact, she had been happy when her relationship had enabled her to put some distance between her and her partner.
Now that she had pushed Castle away, she realized that she might have just made the biggest mistake of her life. Rick Castle had just walked out of her life almost as quickly as he had entered it. Fighting back tears, Kate made her way back to her desk, thinking about how things might have been different if only she had been just a little stronger.
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a.n.2. So that is the first chapter. The update schedule on this is currently unknown. It might be every two weeks or so.
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