Little Miss Muffett
Beckett arrived at her desk at six o'clock Monday morning to find Castle sitting in his
chair and a large cup of coffee sitting on her desk. As she drew closer she saw that
he was engrossed in reading a small book.
"Morning." She said as she removed her jacket and slid it around the back of her chair.
"Mornin'," he mumbled back.
"What's so fascinating about that book?" She asked as she reached for her cup of coffee.
"Huh?" He replied, finally acknowledging her presence as he looked her in the eyes.
"I said, what's so fascinating about that book?"
"Oh, this. I'm donating the old minivan that I used to drive when Alexis was little to a
woman's shelter, it's been in storage for years because I could never bring myself to
part with it. Alexis found out I still had it the other day and she said I needed to let it go."
"And what's that got to do with the book?"
"Oh! this, I found it between the seats when I was cleaning it out. It used to be Alexis'
favorite story book when she was little. It's a book of all the classic nursery rhymes."
"Nursery rhymes, huh. Aren't those a little dated?"
"No! Not the way I used to read them to her."
"And how was that?"
"I would have her pretend she was the main character as I read aloud. It made them
more fun and or creepier depending on which one it was."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. You want to try it?"
"What, pretending I'm in a nursery rhyme? No thanks, I've got stuff to do."
"You're chicken!"
"What?"
"You heard me, chic-ken."
"No I'm not, I'm busy."
"Detective Beckett, I know for a fact that you have nothing to do this morning. You forget,
I was here last night when you finished all your paperwork."
Damn, he had her!
Looking around at the empty bullpen, she relented.
"Fine, let's do this."
"Relax. It's not like you're not acting out some kinky sexual fantasy of mine, as much as I would
enjoy seeing that, you're just imagining yourself being in the nursery rhyme as I read it."
She just rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair.
"Go on." she prompted.
"Fine, I'll read a quick one so you won't be too put out." He flipped through the book till he found
the one he wanted.
"Little Miss Muffett."
"I'm not a little miss anything." Kate commented.
"It's just the title of the nursery rhyme." Castle said shaking his head.
"Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,…"
"What's a tuffett?" Kate interrupted
"What's it matter?"
'Well, if I'm going to be sitting on it, I'd like to know what it is."
"Fine, it's a small round footstool entirely covered in fabric, ok?"
"Good to know," she replied as a slight smile played across her lips.
He started again.
"Little Miss Muffett
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey…"
"Curds and whey? What the hell is curds and whey?" She blurted out.
He looked up from the book and sighed.
"It's a lot like cottage cheese, only it tastes worse."
"I hate cottage cheese, so why the hell would I eat something that tastes even worse?"
"This isn't real, you know. It's i-mag-i-nary." He spoke slowly to get his point across.
"I know. I'm just trying to be involved in the action."
"What action, you keep interrupting," he mumbled.
"Hey!"
"So, where was I?"
"You were forcing me to eat something disgusting," she smirked.
He just shook his head and started over, again.
"Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider, (that looked a lot like a tarantula)
He quickly added the last line, as he arched an eyebrow and smirked back at her.
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
"There," he said closing the book. "All done!"
Kate leaned forward and rested her elbows on her desk as she took a hard look at Castle.
"Now why would I be scared of something that I have a 1:1500 size ratio advantage over?
I could either, pick it up, place a cup over it, squash it, or if I felt really threatened, I could
just shoot it."
He held her gaze for a moment before he slipped the book into his jacket pocket.
"You know what Detective, you take the fun out of everything," he scowled.
"How can you say that?" She sipped at her coffee to keep from laughing.
"I was having fun!"