Disclaimer- I do not own any of the Castle characters.
20 Minutes Before:
Richard Castle was awoken by a strange noise. As he glanced to the side of him he saw
Kate, curled up in a foetal position and snoring softly. It was this noise that had woken
him. She looked so innocent and peaceful asleep, with a slight smile gracing her face,
that he was reluctant to wake her. Instead, he decided to surprise her by making breakfast.
It was only as he pulled on his clothes and slipped downstairs that he realised that it
wasn't his best idea ever. Searching through the cupboards he found absolutely nothing to
make breakfast with. It was then that he remembered a little take away café down the road
that made great pancakes. He could probably get there and back before Kate woke up.
After all, it was just around the corner and she had seemed pretty sound asleep.
As he arrived at the café he was astounded by the queue. It seemed that all of the Big
Apple wanted pancakes today. He was so busy queuing that he didn't even see Kate walk
past, head down, trying to fight back tears.
Castle was puzzled when he found his apartment door unlocked. He could have sworn
that he had locked it. He was even more puzzled when he got upstairs and found the bed
empty and Kate gone. His first reaction was to ring her cell. After just the first ring she
answered.
"Beckett here."
"Hey, it's Rick. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. If he couldn't be bothered to hang around then she wasn't
going to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much it had hurt her. As if his ego
needed anymore inflating!
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Um…no reason," answered Castle. His pride wouldn't allow him to ask why she had left
him.
"Well, if you're ok, then…bye."
He hung up.