Title: The One – Chapter Two
Author: Floss Aus
Pairing: Rick C & Kate B
Summary: Investigating a reality romance show murder has Castle and Beckett realising that secret romances are fun but also dangers.
Spoilers: Set in post Always world.
Disclaimer: ABC and Andrew Marlowe own them, Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic inhabit them and I'm just borrowing them. I' promise to return them all – except Fillion.
Feedback: OH YES PLEASE, seriously love it! And as requested, quotation marks as opposed to apostrophes.
A/N: I also added some meta Fillion career shoutouts. Apologies for the delay, work got in the way, but the next Chapter won't take so long, I promise.
"And I just loved In the Rain of Bullets," the young woman cooed, as she stroked Rick's arm, gazing adoringly into his eyes.
"It's actually In a Hail of Bullets," Kate corrected with barely veiled disgust, as she sat opposite the couple in foyer of Mereton Hotel.
"That's very kind of you Kelli," Rick answered the original compliment, a devilish grin in Kate's direction escaping the attention of the blonde reality star.
"Kelli, can you tell me more about your conversation with Sarah-Beth last night?" Kate, again interjected, attempting to get the interview back on track. It was the fourth reality starlet who'd recognised and then been completely distracted by Castle during the interview process. While it wasn't uncommon and they'd dealt with this sort of attention before, that fact that a multi-millionaire bestselling author was present, sent the ladies of The One into a feeding frenzy. Kate could see three more of them, leaning seductively against the bar, in hopes of attracting his gaze.
"Well, we only talked for a second in the bathroom but she was muttering about contracts, so I asked her who she picked and she said, that while Nate, was a renegade sort of cowboy guy, she didn't trust him. She liked Don, the fire fighter but he was a bit simple for her and James, the Doctor, well, he totally has a girlfriend back home, everyone knows that and I would have made such better choices than she did-"
"Kelli, did Sarah-Beth say anything else? Maybe mention any fights with the cast or crew?" Kate cut in, almost tersely.
"No," the blonde shot a dirty look back, the tension between the two women kicking up just a notch.
"Nothing at all about tension or any pressure?" Rick softly queried, knowing his approach was the one this wannabe starlet would respond to.
"She did say that Mark, the creator was being crazy about the finale not being spoiled. But that's pretty standard," Kelli immediately answered, despite Kate have just asked almost exactly the same question as Castle and receiving a completely different answer.
"Ok then Kelli, you can go." Kate dismissed her quickly.
"Are you sure you don't have any more questions Rick? I'm here for the entire weekend, at this hotel. Maybe later, in the bar, we could catch up." Kate almost squeaked with shock at how forward the young woman was being.
"Well, I definitely think about it Kelli, it's been great talking to a fan." Rick replied, extracting his arm from her almost vice like grip.
They stood quickly and walked out of earshot, standing near the hotel entrance, leaning into each closely, probably more than necessary but Rick couldn't resist. After the drowning, drenching perfume of the starlets, he only wanted to inhale the subtle and sweet aroma of his partner. She stared back at him, her eyes ablaze with shock and humour in equal measure. Five years ago, this would have been heaven in a hotel foyer for him, salivating young women, almost ready to leap sofas to be with him but it was different now.
It would be easy to say that on the first day he met her, he'd been irrevocably changed and she altered the course of life. That wasn't true though, that was a fairy tale description that simplified what this amazing woman meant to him. It wasn't black and white, theirs was a romance built on shades of grey. And while suffering her rejection and dismissal was hell at the time, right now, it felt kind of right to Richard Castle. He was the kind of man who needed to get burnt and she had spent years delivering the pain. Now though, the passion was exquisite, the pleasure replacing the pain and he wanted to swim in. He woke most mornings ecstatic and thoroughly sated, her naked frame beside him, or lying draped across his chest in her own satisfied slumber.
The only dark cloud to this spectacle of sunshine was his hiding the relationship from Alexis. They hadn't initially planned too, and in fact, the very next day, if Alexis had arrived home when she'd intended, all would been revealed, but she called from friend's house, the group of girls still not ready to let go and promised to catch up with him the next day. It continued this way, unplanned avoidance that rolled through an easy summer with weekends away and trips with Alexis, that meant they never found the right time to address it and now, finding himself in September, with a relationship that meant more to him than he cared to question and his most beloved daughter completely unaware.
"Okay, well, I think we're done here," Beckett sighed dejectedly.
"What...why...there are at least three more former contestants from Sarah-Beth's season we haven't spoken to," Castle replied, a cheeky grin appearing on his face.
"Oh I'm sure, you'd really enjoy that. More ladies to swoon over how amazing it is that you can actually write books and like, oh my God, do you, write it out in pen or like type it up." Beckett mocked the inane and idiotic questions he'd been peppered with all morning.
"Green is so not your color, you know," He quipped back.
"Oh right sure, these teenagers make me feel so threatened." She almost laughed, despite the crowded foyer. This playing it cool thing was proving difficult, for sure. "We need to speak with this creator Mark guy." She whipped out her cell and dialled the precinct while Castle turned further away from the preening blondes, who were practically crawling for his attention. After a short exchange, she hung up the phone with an angry grunt.
"What?" He queried, her tone an instant alert to stop playing with her.
"Due to the confidential nature of The One, Mark Fletcher, is lawyered up the eyeballs and awaiting their direction before talking with police."
"Wow, talk about take this way too seriously." Castle responded, shocked at the secretive nature of the show. They began walking back to the street heading towards Beckett's car.
"You mean, you've never actually seen an episode of The One?" She replied.
"Kate, I am man of many interests. Many, many, many interests, but reality romance shows – ehh, just doesn't float my boat."
"Well, prepared to be enlightened. We've got some research to do on these people, and I believe, my DVR is filled with this season's The One."
"So when you say your DVR, you mean in the one in your apartment, with the couch, and the bedroom, and the kitchen counter and the shower." He arched an eyebrow, the suggestion playing across his face.
"That very apartment," she grinned in response.
To Be Continued – Lanie calls with news and Castle attempts to distract Kate from research.