Murphy Was An Optimist

by RGoodfellow64

Chapter 2

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Disclaimer: See chapter one if you're really interested.

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Kate walked to the back of the bar, nodding to the officers and detectives, she knew on her way, her hand still holding Josh's and pulling him along with her. She could feel the waves of confusion and anger rolling off Josh and she steeled herself for another one of his 'jealously jams' as Lanie called them.

On a few of the faces she passed, she could see confusion. She inwardly sighed as she realized they were officers who had no idea who Josh was, and were part of that group who thought she and Castle were together. Probably more fodder for Josh to be upset over.

As they arrived at the booth, Kate could feel Josh tense up as he saw the sign on the wall above the table, 'Reserved for owner and special friends'. She just knew he'd remark on the 'special' part, it seemed to be what they spoke about most, lately.

Kate sat down in the booth at the end of the seat, facing the rear wall. Since she didn't move further into the seat, Josh had to sit across from her. As she placed her purse beside her, Kate could hear over the background conversations a distinct female voice cry out, "Oh my God! You're Richard Castle!"

A brief look of annoyance came over her face as she heard that, and of course, Josh noticed and said, "He's just a hack writer for crying out loud!"

Kate's immediate response was to defend Castle but before she could say anything, a waitress arrived with another shot for Kate and two menu's. "Hey Detective, Jerry says it's a vodka night so here ya go." She then turned to Josh and asked, "What can I get you, sir?"

Josh stared at the shot in front of Kate; his desire to know just how everyone knew so much about his girlfriend fueled his frustration and anger. He was concentrating so much on the glass that to get his attention the waitress had to ask a second time if he wanted anything. He looked up in confusion as he realized he didn't quite catch what she said.

"He'll have a beer, Mony," Kate spoke. Josh nodded his head and said, "Whatever's on tap," then looked back at the shot glass in front of Kate.

As the waitress walked away, Josh looked at Kate and asked, "You know her name?"

Kate held back a sigh and thought that the best way to handle the evening was to be Detective Beckett and not Kate, so she looked in Josh's eyes and said, "Yes I do."

Josh smirked and said in a dismissive tone, "What kind of name is 'Mony' anyway?"

Just at that moment, Mony came back with a tall, frosted glass of beer and placed it in front of Josh. She had seen that the situation at the booth was far from amicable and rushed to get the beer. "My name is Mona," she said as she placed a napkin by the glass. "My friends all call me Mony after the song."

"Song?" Josh asked.

"Mony, Mony," Kate said, trying to diffuse the situation. Unfortunately Mony added, "Yeah, the boss only likes the original version by Tommy James but Detective Beckett prefers Billy Idol." She shrugged her shoulders and added, "So they compromised, both versions play in the background." She smiled at Kate and said, "We all think it's a hoot that your compromise was 60/40 and the boss getting the 40."

Someone called out Mony's name from another booth and she quickly turned to leave, "Just call out if you need anything Detective," she said and then left them alone. Kate looked at Josh and saw his brow darken as he realized that this reaction from the staff meant Kate had been here a lot.

Kate was thinking about other evenings with Josh, the arguments that ensued and it suddenly seemed like a bulb turned on in her head. Josh stayed for her; he stopped his Doctors Without Borders missions and did manage to trim a few hours off his work schedules, but was that enough? When he canceled his trip to Haiti and was there when she and Castle came out of the freezer, she felt he deserved another chance, but honestly, was it really worth it anymore?

She thought about all the arguments they had over her schedule, over the calls she received at all hours and there was never a peep or complaint out of him when the hospital called. She began to think that she was a second class citizen in this relationship, if you could even call it that anymore, because almost every argument centered around one main theme…Richard Castle.

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Rick turned to the woman standing at the bottom of the stairs and realized that no matter how low he felt, she was a fan and deserved his attention. He put his best 'professional' smile in place and put out his empty hand, "Yes, I'm Rick Castle…and you are?"

The woman put out her hand and when she touched his she seemed to quiver as she began to hyperventilate, "Yes. You really are! I mean, I'm really glad…you know I love your…Oh my God, I can't believe you're here… I…"

For a second Castle's mind brought him back to a few months before when he and Ka…Beckett met with Joe Torre. He smiled as he recalled the way Beckett turned into an incoherent fan and that smile evidently was enough to help calm the woman who now had a vice like grip on his hand.

"Oooo, looks like Castle has a fan," Ryan said as they heard the woman squeal at the other end of the bar. Demming quickly got up from his seat at the bar and tried to run to Lisa and Castle, weaving in between, and quietly swearing at the people standing in his way. Esposito looked at Ryan and said, "Bro, this is better than courtside seats at the Nets!" Ryan shook his head and said, "I don't know Javi, I gotta bad feeling about tonight."

Esposito waved away his concerns and watched as Demming made his way to the front door where Castle was shaking his girlfriend's hand. 'Oh crap! Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!' Tom thought as he finally made his way around the last couple standing between him and his date. "Gotta stop this quick," he mumbled to himself as he put his hand on her arm and said, "Lisa, you made it!"

Lisa just stood there, a huge smile on her face, shaking Castle's arm as if she was going to pull it off him.

'Crap!'

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"Why are Castle and your team here anyway?" Josh asked anger still in his voice.

"They're celebrating," Kate responded.

"Why would he be asked to join in a celebration?" Josh asked in exasperation. "He's just a hack writer!"

Kate shook her head, reigned in her tart reply and instead told Josh all about the murder on Temptation Lane. "Isn't that one of those trashy soap operas?" he asked.

"Trashy?" Kate asked in a frigid voice.

"It's a stupid soap opera, Kate, they're all trash. Intelligent people never watch that stuff."

Kate pulled her lips between her teeth, silently counting to ten and then to twenty. She did not want this night to get any worse and just wanted to finish their drinks and then get out.

Josh lifted up his glass and took a sip; he put it down and said in a snarky voice, "I suppose since you get drinks for free I won't have to pay for this, huh?"

Kate took a deep breath and closed her eyes, thinking once again all the times she threatened to shoot Castle and how lately she only wanted to shoot Josh. Before she could respond, he continued with a smirk, "Leave it to Castle to own a bar and offer cheap drinks to the cops so he can buy his way into everyone's good graces." He paused a moment and said, "Look at all these cops in here tonight getting drunk on cheap booze." His words, tone and demeanor showed his complete lack of respect for the police.

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Lisa didn't even realize Tom was there, she kept staring at Castle with a silly grin on her face and squeezing his hand as if she never planned to let it go.

Demming leaned in and kissed her cheek, "Hey, honey, glad you made it," he said, but it wasn't until Castle tried to extricate his hand that she even noticed Demming was there.

"Oh! Tom! Look, Richard Castle!" she gushed.

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Kate was still digesting what Josh said. She wanted to leave soon and had already finished her drink but Josh was only taking sips of his beer.

"So, an ex-boyfriend, huh?" he suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm sure it won't come as a surprise to you Josh, but I have dated other men before I met you."

"That's not what I mean and you know it, Kate. It just seems odd to me that not only does Castle own this bar, but your old boyfriend…" he paused and thought a moment, "Tom, you said, right?"

Kate controlled the eye roll she felt coming on and said, "Yeah, Tom."

Josh shook his head, "I thought Piscopo said Ron."

With an exasperated sigh Kate said, "Esposito! His name is Esposito." Josh looked as if he was going to respond when Kate added, "You know Josh, for someone who claims they want to know and be friends with the people I work with, you don't try very hard to remember their names."

Josh leaned forward and said in an angry tone, "Don't turn this on me, Kate. All I wanted to do was take you out somewhere nice. I never expected to run into your so called partner and an ex-boyfriend!"

Now Kate's anger came to the surface, "Really Josh? Then how come when I told you I didn't want to come here you practically dragged me out of the cab?"

Josh opened his mouth to respond but Kate put up her hand and said, "Then you specifically said you wanted the people I work with to see me with you, and why would that be? Maybe because they know I work with Castle and see me with him so you had to make sure to stake your claim?"

Josh sat back; shocked that Kate would go there. The fact that she pretty much called it as it was surprised him even more and it showed on his face because Kate said, "Did you forget that I'm a detective Josh? Of course I realized why you wanted to come here immediately after the cab left."

Josh leaned forward again and said in an angry voice, "Don't think I didn't notice the looks we got as we walked to the booth, Kate. I saw the confusion on the faces of some of the people you work with!" He straightened up in the booth and added, "Even the waitress and bartender! They were surprised to see you with me. Even they think there's something going on between you and your so-called partner!" He practically snarled the last words before he realized that Kate's expression had frozen into one he'd never seen before. He saw that her lips were compressed and her eyes had narrowed. He realized she was beyond angry and thought over what he said to cause that; then he realized he'd pretty much accused her of cheating on him. He opened his mouth to say something; anything that would defuse the situation but she held up her hand and he closed his mouth and waited for her to respond.

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Rick finally managed to remove his hand and turned to Demming, "So Tom, you know this lovely lady?"

Tom watched the smile on his girlfriend's face become even brighter at Castle's words. He knew she was a fan but never realized just how big a fan she actually was. "Yes I do," he replied. "Rick Castle, this is my girlfriend, Lisa Teel. Lisa, Rick Castle."

Before Rick could say a word, Lisa grabbed his hand again and started shaking it so violently that he spilled some of his drink. ""Oh I am so glad to meet you!" she squealed. "I'm your biggest fan!"

'She's actually squealing!' Demming thought to himself. 'Crap!'

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Kate looked down at the table and digested what Josh said, then went replayed in her mind all that happened this evening, not just with Josh but the time before at the precinct with Castle, and that brought up reminders of other evenings after work. Josh watched her and saw that she was really thinking through some things, the crease between her eyes alone showed him that. 'Finally', he thought, finally, what he said actually got through to her and she was thinking about all the times her partnership, as she calls it, with Castle interfered with their plans. How often he came between them and how many times they had conversations regarding her job and her arrangement with Castle. He just wished he hadn't said those last words to her, but dammit he was angry and tired of Castle always being around.

After a few minutes, Kate's eyes looked up at Josh and she quietly said, "Have you noticed how often we fight lately? Not just when we get together but even on the phone." She paused a moment as Josh looked at her in confusion then added, "Now that I think about it, we spend most of our time arguing."

"What?"

"Not always," Kate continued as if he hadn't spoken, "but we argue more often than not, and I'm beginning to realize that lately, almost every time we have sex I'm initiating it just to stop having to argue with you."

"What?" Josh's loud response drew the attention of the officers at the nearby booths.

Kate waved her hand to let the officers know it was ok and they turned back to their own interests as Kate continued, "We argue, I end it by having sex with you, then you go back to your apartment to get ready for your next shift and I take a shower." Kate shook her head in disbelief as she finally spoke what had been in her mind for a while.

As Josh looked at her in shock and growing anger, Kate continued to think about their relationship, or rather lack of one and said, "Oh my God, we don't have a relationship, all we've got is a series of arguments that end in booty calls!" As her eyes widened at the realization, she said, more to herself but loud enough for Josh to hear, "When did I become that kind of woman anyway?"

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Rick managed to get his hand back again and Lisa turned to Demming and asked, "Tom, you mentioned that you've seen Mr. Castle around the precinct. Do you know each other?"

"Please, call me Rick," Castle said.

Lisa squealed again and Demming thought 'Please call me Rick…bleach!' before he said, "Castle and I have met before," and he looked at Castle as if to say do not embellish anything.

Castle turned to Lisa and said, "I actually met Tom when the team of Detectives I work with had a case that overlapped with Robbery about a year ago."

Lisa turned to Demming and said, "Tom! You never told me that you worked with Rick! That must have been so exciting!"

Before Demming could reply Castle said, "Yes, it was interesting and we learned how the Robbery division does things." Demming knew that Castle was talking about his brief relationship with Kate, but luckily, Lisa didn't know that.

"Actually," Castle continued with a smile, "I started to write a character based on Tom here for one of my books."

Lisa squealed again, "Really?"

Castle looked at Tom and back to Lisa, "Oh yes, really," he shrugged his shoulders and added, "Unfortunately the character didn't pan out for the storyline, but you never know, I may still use him for a future book."

"That's so exciting!" Lisa exclaimed.

Demming gave a weak smile, 'Crap!'

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Kate looked at Josh, really looked at him. She used her detective skills and carefully looked over the man in front of her. She liked what she saw. He was good looking; he had almost a pretty boy look about him but managed to cover that up with the bad boy look he perfected. Her thoughts stopped at that point and she went over that last phrase, 'something he perfected'. Something he covered up. The look, the bad boy, was really just a persona he wore, like his scrubs. She watched as he picked up his beer and took a sip, his eyes firmly set on the glass. Not looking at her. Still angry. Still…she mentally shook her head. She jumped into this rebound of a relationship without any real knowledge of the man and she just realized how much she didn't like about him. True, he was pretty, but that certainly wasn't all that she wanted for herself. Life was more than just being pretty.

A memory came to her, "I never told you much about my parents, have I, Josh," she said.

His eyes looked up to her and he shook his head no.

Kate's face transformed in front of him and he was reminded how beautiful she was, the softness that enveloped her even took away some of his anger. "My parents had a great relationship, Josh. True they had their moments when one was upset with the other, and there were arguments, but nothing that took away from the love they felt for each other. No matter what happened, no matter how angry or upset they would be, they always loved each other more."

Josh couldn't speak if he wanted to. Watching Kate talk about her parents, something that she never did before, felt almost fragile. He always wanted to know more about her and he knew that she didn't like to talk about herself, so anything he said or did could easily end the moment. He sat still and waited for more.

A soft smile just added to her beauty as she said, "My dad would do goofy things," she chuckled. "To this day when I see a sign that says 'Stop Ahead' I can hear his voice saying, 'I don't see a head running around anywhere, Katie, do you?' and then he'd look all around as if a head would come running out into the street." Kate shook her head, "My mom would roll her eyes and act like she was embarrassed, but she loved it."

Kate paused and then said in a voice that sounded almost surprised, "They laughed a lot. They would be silly with each other and he made my mom giggle. I used to love her giggle; Dad says I sound like her when I giggle."

Her face changed, the softness left and she looked into Josh's eyes when she added, "When was the last time we laughed, Josh? It's been so long that I can't even remember."

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Tom took Lisa's arm, "I think we should let Rick get back to what he was doing, I'm sure he has plenty to do, owning the bar and all."

"You own the Old Haunt?" Lisa asked. At Rick's nod she said, "I've heard so much about this place from Tom, you must be very proud of it."

"Yes, I am," Castle started to reply when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. He waved over the waitress and when she arrived he said, "That table over there is about to be free, Mony, please hold it for Tom and Lisa."

"Sure thing, boss," she replied then nodded to Lisa and turned back to the table in question.

"I'm sure you and Tom would rather sit at a table than stand at the bar," Rick said.

"Thank you," Demming mumbled while Lisa gushed, "That is so sweet of you! Thank you so much!"

Castle dipped his head, "It was a pleasure to meet you Lisa." He turned to Demming and said, "Nice to see you again Tom." As he started to back away from the couple Lisa exclaimed, "I wish I brought a book with me. If I'd known you'd be here I would have asked you to sign it for me."

Castle smiled and replied, "Just have Tom bring any books to the precinct whenever you want and I'll be happy to sign them all for you."

"Oh my God! Thank you! Thank you so much!" Lisa exclaimed. Tom tried to grin, as the last thing he wanted was to visit homicide and have Castle sign his girlfriend's books. His ego was big enough, he thought.

Castle nodded towards the interior of the bar and said, "Your table is ready, I hope you have a wonderful evening." He turned away and walked behind the bar, opened the door in the floor and descended to his office.

Lisa grabbed hold of Tom's arm as they walked to their table. The table held especially for them by Richard Castle himself! She was so excited she squeezed Tom's arm and could hardly contain another squeal of happiness.

Demming gritted his teeth and forced himself to smile at the waitress before he thanked her for getting the table ready for them. It wasn't her fault that Castle was here tonight, or that Lisa was a huge fan, or that Tom really, really didn't like the man.

As they sat down Lisa kept talking about meeting Richard Castle, and about how all her friends were going to be so jealous of her. Tom just smiled and nodded at the proper times while she spoke and wished he'd made plans to meet her anywhere else than the Old Haunt.

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Josh felt the change in Kate. His anger was gone in an instant as something icy; something cold and foreign took its place. It felt as if his stomach was falling as she continued, "When we get together its pretty much arguments, unless it's a quick bite to eat, a quickie in bed and then gone again. Sex is supposed to be loving, carefree even. My mom told me you should be able to talk and laugh and love each other but it's never been like that with us, and for the longest time it's just been about relieving stress."

Josh shook his head, he opened his mouth but she kept on speaking, "That was my relationship with Will. Pretty much the entire time we were together we hardly laughed at all. There was no joy in the relationship, there was no…no giggling." Her eyes narrowed and she looked over his shoulder at the photos on the wall behind him, one of which was a young Rick Castle, "I like to giggle. I like to laugh and I love to smile."

She looked back at Josh and her face was nothing like he'd ever seen before. There was no longer any softness, any happy emotion. It was a cold face. A hard face. "I don't smile when I'm with you, Josh. I haven't for a long time."

The anger came back, "I suppose you smile with Castle," he growled.

The coldness in her eyes suddenly disappeared, he could tell that she was remembering things, going over things in her mind and suddenly she smiled…a smile he never recalled ever having seen on her before, "Yeah. As a matter of fact he does make me smile. He makes me smile a lot."

"Kate…"

"Tonight opened my eyes, Josh. So much. From the angry look on Sgt. Edwards face, to your trying to show me off to my fellow officers, to your anger at Castle owning a bar. To…" she paused a moment and said, "Damn, pretty much everything in our so called relationship over the past months."

"What are you saying, Kate."

"I think…no, I know that I want to pick up where I left off last spring."

"And what was that?" Josh asked.

"An invitation…and a possibility," she paused and softly added, "A chance."

"A chance at what, Kate?"

"At what my parents had." Kate reached to her side and picked up her purse. "You're a nice guy, Josh, just not the guy for me." She reached out her right arm, in the unmistakable sign for shaking hands. When he didn't respond she pulled her arm back and said, "Have a nice life, Josh." Then slid out of the booth and walked back towards the bar, the past left behind, the future, hopefully her future, was sitting in an office under the bar.

Before Josh could respond, she was gone. He looked at his beer, and then looked where Kate had sat moments before, looked at his surroundings and wished he'd never heard of this place.

Kate walked with a purpose to the end of the bar, as she walked by Esposito he called our, "Hey Beckett! How're things with Motorcy…" He never finished as she waved her hand and said, "Not now, Javi," and continued walking.

Ryan looked at his partner and said, "She called you Javi." Esposito replied, "Yeah, she hardly ever does that." Then they both simply watched as Kate made her way to the end of the bar, following exactly where Castle had gone earlier.

When she arrived near the stairs by the entrance, she turned and entered the bar area and headed towards the door to the basement. The two men behind the bar watched her open the door to the boss's office, but before she entered, Kate looked up and said, "Unless there's a fire, Jerry, we don't want to be disturbed." At the look she gave him, he simply nodded his head, and both men watched as she took a deep breath, started down the stairs and quietly closed the door behind her.

Ed, the other man who was tending bar that night, turned to Jerry and asked, "What about the boss's popcorn?"

"You heard the Detective, do not disturb."

Ed nodded his head, "Gotcha," he said then turned back to attend the bar.

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"I think it's so neat that you work with Richard Castle," Lisa said to Tom for the eight or ninth time, he'd lost count of how many times she'd said that.

"Yeah," Tom replied as he gritted his teeth. "He's really swell."

Lisa nodded and said, "We have to find a box tonight for my books so you can bring them in tomorrow. I can't believe he's going to sign every one for me! Isn't that sweet?" Lisa said with a dreamy smile on her face.

"Yeah, really sweet," Tom managed to get out, while his mind kept replaying the same phrase over and over again… 'I really don't like that guy!'

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AUTHORS NOTE: I think it was only about 20 seconds after I posted the first chapter that people started asking for a second. Since this is AU, I decided to take it where I would want it to go, and not follow the show, so in my universe, Kate dumps DMB before being shot.

There have been so many stories where Kate breaks up with DMB to be with Castle but for what I think are the wrong reasons, such as Josh cheats on her or Josh goes away on another DWB tour. Josh sees that Kate really loves Castle and bows out of the picture, and so on. In all these scenarios, Josh leaves or does something to end the relationship, or cause Kate to end it. He in essence makes the decision for her; at no time does she look at Josh and Castle and say to herself, 'What the heck am I doing with this guy? I should be with Rick!' Well, in this chapter, she did.

Certain friends are mentioned here…teel, I figured this is how you'd behave if Nathan Fillion popped up in front of you, heck, I'm surprised Tycho and Nathanfan didn't faint when they met him…and SB, you are now a Sergeant at the 12th Precinct, who for some reason, can't stand Josh Davidson. Go figure.