A/N: This one just got completely out of control! Phew! A little heavier than the previous chapter, but I hope you like it. Oh, and I'm terribly sorry about the LONG delay, I was extremely busy with college admissions.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I wish.

CHAPTER 2: Skating Over The Rough Times

Ref. Castle Season 1 Episode 9: "Little Girl Lost"

"Didn't stop me from missing you. Missing us. Sundays in the park. Those ridiculous neon ice skates at Rockefeller Centre."

"Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate….." whined Castle impatiently. "Come on!"

"Jeez, Castle, just gimme a sec to put on some socks, it's freezing outside!"

"You said that ten minutes ago!"

"Fine, then get in here and give me a hand," huffed Beckett.

A few moments later, Castle bounded into her bedroom, wearing a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Katherine Beckett, did I hear you right? You wanted a hand? Does that mean –"

Kate raised a well-defined eyebrow.

"Mind out of the gutter, kitten. I need you to find my white snow boots, while I do my hair."

Castle pouted like a four-year old being refused ice cream.

"You're no fun."

"And yet you love me," smirked Kate.

Castle placed a smacking kiss on her cheek in reply. "I do."

"Then shut up and get my shoes."

"Yes ma'am."

Beckett allowed herself a small dreamy smile as Castle obediently made his way to her coat closet. The guy was so utterly sweet. And lovable. Annoying, though. But so damn cute! Enough, Kate. Stop acting like a giddy schoolgirl!

Kate plugged in her straightener and concentrated on not burning herself.

Meanwhile, Castle was trying not to tear his hair out of frustration. Because Kate's cavernous closet seemed to house every shoe on the planet. How the hell did she fit all of them in there? They seemed almost ready to explode out into the room soon. And how was he supposed to search for a specific pair in this veritable jungle of shoes? For such a control freak, Beckett sure made an exception when it came to shoes. They were stuffed together unceremoniously and it was difficult to make out separate pairs. Castle sighed. He was simply going to have to drag all of them out and put them back once he'd found the white boots. Maybe he'd arrange them properly, just to make a point.

Castle reached out a hand and tugged on the pile of shoes, making them tumble out onto the floor. Oh God, thought Castle, she could open a shoe museum. But then, he really shouldn't be surprised. Meredith and Gina had both had a lot of shoes. Like, a LOT of shoes. So Kate was definitely entitled to her own huge collection.

Now to find the pairs. Castle began to match each left shoe with the right one, or vice versa, depending on which he got his hands on first. Pretty soon, he had organized them into proper pairs. And he also found the boots that Kate wanted, so he put those aside and prepared to put the numerous other pairs neatly back into her closet.

In went a pair of steel-tipped black work boots.

Then a pair of beautiful coral ballerinas she'd worn a few days back, when he'd taken her out to dinner.

Then a pair of sexy as hell, four-inch high heeled, wine red pumps.

Then a variety of peep-toes in black, nude and grey.

Castle was just putting in her gym shoes when he noticed that only one of them would fit in the place left by the shoes he had just put in. He jostled them around, trying to make some more space, and suddenly hit something at the very back of her closet. Pulling out a few shoes, he realized that what he'd thought was the back of her closet, was actually a false back, created by some show boxes.

Feeling curious (DUH), he extracted the boxes and opened one.

It contained a pair of her work boots, with one of the buckles broken. Presumably, she hadn't had time to go and get it fixed. Well, he'd be only too happy to do that for her. But moving on….

The next two boxes also contained shoes which needed some kind of repair work. Castle stacked the three boxes one on top of the other, intending to get them fixed at the firs opportunity.

The last two boxes were plain, made of cardboard. Castle opened the smaller, more oblong one.

The tissue crinkled under his fingers. It was quite old, he could tell, atleast ten years. He gently slid some of the tissue off and saw… A pair of ballet shoes. Pale peach in colour, with matching ribbons. He picked them up and observed them carefully. Kate had never told him she'd been a serious ballerina. The shoes were scratched roughly on the soles. He knew professional dancers did that to prevent slipping on the varnished hardwood stage. There was also a thin lining of cotton padding, hand-sewn just along the inner edge. To stop the stiff cloth from cutting into the feet, he supposed, especially near the heels and ankles. He pictured a younger Kate, teenage, all long limbs, perfect posture, twirling freely to music. He smiled gently, putting the shoes back after re-wrapping them carefully. His hand brushed against something tucked into the side of the box. It was a piece of thick paper, yellowed and curling at the corners. The neat, precise writing on it said: "My darling Katie-bug,

It doesn't matter whether you get the part of Anastasia,

Cinderella, or Prince Charming; Mommy loves you

Just the same, okay? You'll always be my princess."

Castle felt warmth spreading through his body. He imagined Kate hugging Johanna, in their perfect little world, as Jim looked on, eyes suspiciously bright; Kate and Johanna on a Sunday, customizing the shoes so that Kate could practice for whichever part she'd got.

Snapping back to the present, Castle suddenly felt guilty, snooping through such a private aspect of Kate's life. Quickly closing the box, he turned his attention to the last one, which was a lot bigger then the others. Pulling it towards himself, he noticed that it was pretty heavy. Just one peek, he told himself, and I'll put those back.

But when he opened the box, he was SO not prepared for what he saw.

Skates. Ice skates.

In an eye-blistering shade of neon green. With glitter detailing on the sides.

And obnoxiously bright yellow laces.

Castle was so gobsmacked that he blinked a few times, trying to clear his head. He picked up one of the skates, turning it around in his hand. I bet people literally froze when she went skating in those, he thought. He blinked furiously and shook his head, still not having got rid of the hideous riot of neon shades. And then –

"Castle, what the hell are you doing? I thought we were going to get lunch and meet Alexis. I doubt she'd like to be kept waiting – OH MY GOD, CASTLE!"

When Kate sent her boyfriend to look for shoes, she was fully focused on straightening her hair and styling it into a side-braid. That in itself didn't take very long. After that, she sat on her bed, twirling the ends of her braid between her fingers, dreaming about the previous night. The memories made an unconscious blush redden her cheeks and her eyes sparkled. Castle had given her a necklace for their anniversary yesterday. Just because, he'd said. It was simple, a gold chain with a "C" dangling from it. She'd been unable to stop the tears when she saw it, and he'd hugged her and let her have a little 'feminine time'. That man. That adorable, sappy, caring, honest, sweet, loving man.

Speaking of, where was her man? Surely it didn't take such a lot of time to find a pair of shoes in a closet. What was he up to now? Snooping in some other unholy drawer? She hoped not. She'd hardly been able to contain her laughter that last time.

"Castle, did you find the shoes yet?" Kate called.

No answer.

"Rick! Did you walk into my closet and find Narnia?"

Silence.

"Rick, sweetheart, are you okay?" The endearment slipped unconsciously from her lips as concern laced her voice. Kate got off the bed and made her way to the hall. Had he fallen asleep on the sofa? She sighed in relief and annoyance when she spotted him sitting on the floor in front of her coat closet. That man! Wide awake and pretending not to hear her!

"Castle, what the hell are you doing? I thought we were going to get lunch and meet Alexis," said Kate, walking towards him. She saw her shoes, arranged neatly in pairs, and thoughts of "sweet man" crossed her mind. "I doubt she'd like to be kept waiting –"

And then she saw what Castle was holding in his hand.

"OH MY GOD, CASTLE!"

Cheeks flaming red, Kate glared at Castle, who was looking as embarrassed as she felt, dropping the offending shoe on the floor with a loud thunk.

"Explain yourself right now!"

Castle was tongue-tied. Think! Form a word, an easy-peasy word, you got a voice box!

"Shoes!" he managed to get out. "I was looking – for shoes – um, for the shoes you wanted." He indicated the white snow boots, sitting innocently by the closet door.

Kate slid her feet into the boots, glaring at Castle the whole time.

"I can see that!" she snapped. "But what's all this?" She made a sweeping motion over the shoeboxes.

Castle jumped at the chance to explain.

"Well, I couldn't find anything in the holy mess you had here before," he began, gulping as she raised as eyebrow. "But," he pressed on valiantly, "I organized all your shoes into pairs – look!" Waving his arms exaggeratedly over them, he continued, "Then when I was putting them back, I accidentally hit something at the back, and I found….the boxes," he concluded lamely.

She waited, obviously not satisfied with the information she'd got.

Castle took a deep breath.

"The shoes which want repairing, I put them aside to – to get them done for you," he said, looking at her hesitantly. "And the others… Well, I didn't know what was in them, so I…"

Kate sighed. "You opened them." It wasn't a question.

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then Kate blushed and looked away.

"You probably think it's stupid of me, to keep those, even though I've grown out of them…"

"Oh, Kate." Castle was dismayed to see her eyes well up, tears threatening to escape at any moment. He got up, ignoring the pins and needles in his legs, and engulfed her in a hug.

"It's not stupid, Kate," he said, rubbing soothing circles into her back.

She pulled herself together and kissed him long and slow.

"Oh Castle, why is it that every time you go prowling around my house, you find something you're not supposed to?" She smirked, consciously stopping herself from giggling at his indignant expression.

"I wasn't prowling. You sent me here. Besides, I arranged your million pairs of shoes."

"Let them be. We'll put them back later," she said, looking at them fondly. "We should really go."

"Yeah, or Alexis will kill me."

"Which was exactly what I'd been trying to tell you, but you were lost in your own world."

He helped her into her coat and they left, bickering over random stuff on their way to the elevator.

"So whose part did you get, Kate?" he asked suddenly.

Kate smiled to herself and replied, "Prince Charming."

"Aw. I would've thought you got Cinderella."

"They wanted someone with blonde hair, and I was too tall, anyway."

"I'm sure you made a very handsome Prince."

"Shut up Castle."

"Okay."

A few moments later…

"By the way, lovely skates, Beckett." *Smirk* "I'm sure nobody could take their eyes off them when you went skating."

"Fourteen, Castle. I was fourteen. And I was determined to be unique and not buy the sequined pink horrors that every other girl my age seemed to own. So wipe that smirk off your pretty face, right now."

"Alright, fine. You've really got nothing to complain about, you know. I once got the part of an annoying monkey in a school play. And I can't skate."

"Why does that bother you? They picked a character perfectly suited for you!"

A pause. Then…

"I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Sure did, Writer Monkey."

HA! Okay, I know it was REALLY long, but I hope you liked it. Please R&R. I hope to not get held up in posting further chapters again! The stories crawl around inside me… *shudders* Anyway, cheers!

Luna