Chapter Three
4 months later
"Will you please answer the phone." She said, never looking up from the giant textbook. It was September and midterms were slowly encroaching on her life already. Alexis Castle almost looked wearied over the amount of homework piling up.
"No. It's just Paula." He replied flippantly. His agent had been calling him incessantly to get him to get a jump start on his promotional tour. With the Heat Wave movie wrapping up, she had thought this was a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. What she didn't count on was the attachment he had towards a certain injured detective. "Want to watch Road Rules again?"
"Dad, it's Saturday afternoon. Shouldn't you be doing something else other than watching Road Rules?"
"I'm having a momentary lapse in inspiration."
"As in you have Writer's Block." Her father made a face and turned his attention back on the television. He had been lacking of late of fresh ideas. It could be because the new Captain had thrown him out of the precinct and off cases multiple times. It didn't help matters when the new Captain was less concerned about politics and more concerned with how the precinct was run. Admirable, but it was problematic for him. He had been trying to get back into the 12th since Captain Montgomery's funeral and every step he took seemed to be watched like a hawk. Now that Beckett was back on duty, he thought that might change a little. The new Captain, however, was a little less eager to please the Commissioner and the Mayor in their requests.
"Castle, we'll sort it all out." His partner had said to him. "You're my partner and I'm not looking for another. Besides, I'm just doing paperwork and there's reasons why you don't write scenes involving paperwork."
Her steps were no longer laboured but he could still see she was in discomfort at times. She would weakly smile and tell him that everything was alright, she just had the wind knocked out of her. Where his mind should have been on the written word, his was on Beckett and what he was going to do.
"I wasn't ready to tell you yet." her voice echoed in his head.
Her boyfriend had finally decided to make an appearance a few days after she got out of surgery. He had to be cleared and vetted. They didn't want to take any chances. Their encounter was nothing more than cordial, he had seen. He didn't want to pry or press but something within him stirred with hope. He dared to hope that that was the end of that relationship as it should have been those many months ago. After everything, Kate deserved to be happy. Even if it wasn't with him.
He didn't inquire into her relationship status. He didn't press whether or not she had heard him whisper frantically his declaration of love. He didn't want to open that can of worms just yet. They were content being with one another and he was just happy that she was safe once again. Castle knew that these things would come in its own time and he was not in a hurry.
"I wasn't ready to tell you yet." She said back at the hospital, still mildly drugged up. He lifted his eyes from his laptop screen to find her talking to the ceiling. "I didn't know what... how..."
"I didn't ask."
"I don't want to stroke your already enormous ego but Castle, it must be your jedi mind tricks." He stifled a grin and refocused his attentions to his words on the screen. He was having a harder time concentrating now. "We had an argument about why I never told him about my mom, why I couldn't trust him enough to let him help me."
He remained silent in his chair, peering over the laptop at her. He sensed something else coming. Something much bigger.
"He asked me whether or not you knew." The fallen detective paused, trying to search her recollections. "I told him that of course you knew, you were my partner. The funny thing is that Josh said the exact same thing to me, the night that you came and told me to back off. He said he didn't know where we stood anymore. If I was in a relationship with him, I should be able to trust him with these things. He said he was fine with my dark and twisted past, that everyone came with baggage and that I was no exception."
She sighed and continued: "And I kept pushing him away after that. I didn't want him to get involved in this mess. I didn't want him to see me like this. So we broke up. The problem was that he would understand and be the perfect supportive boyfriend. If I was any other girl..." The medication was allowing her to be uncensored and Castle was afraid that if he had said anything, she would clam up again. So he stayed quiet.
"Castle, what's wrong with me?"
"Other than the fact that you have a hole in your side?" That incited a signature smirk from her that warmed his heart. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong with you."
"Then why can't I be with someone without having one foot out the door?"
Because they aren't the one, he thought. "Because of your super cool Jedi powers."
"If this pillow was less comfortable, it would be in your face at the moment."
"Or maybe they aren't as super cool as mine then." He had a spoonful of teal Jell-O flung in his face. "Kate Beckett, ladies and gentlemen, good with all weapons from spoons to guns."
"Thanks Castle."
"Anytime." He said, licking a piece off of his thumb. "Just to have you know, you're cleaning this up. If you can't move your arms properly, I have a few suggestions on how this could be done."
"I'm not licking it off of you."
Castle flashed her a mischievous grin and ducked, fearing for more Jell-O in his face.
A towel hit him in the back of the head, jolting him back from where his mind had wandered.
"What?" He lifted an eyebrow towards Alexis. "You picked up the phone?"
"It's not Paula."
"Gina"
"Nope." She held out the phone closer to him.
"Ray from Nate's Pizza."
"Ray calls here?"
"Right."
"Dad!"
"Fine." He sighed and put the receiver to his ear. "Rick's Mortuary Service, you kill em, we stuff em."
"Castle?" the melodic voice rang into his ear and a smile spread across his face. There were only a two people who could do that to him. One was sitting in the kitchen, the other was on the other line. "I thought you were shadowing me because you wanted to write about murder not be accessory to one."
"Sorry. Paula's just driving me insane." He rolled his eyes. "How's it going at the precinct?"
"Good. Paperwork seems to pile right up when you're away from your desk for a few months." He could hear sirens in the background and horns blaring.
"Where are you?"
"I needed some fresh air so I went to the park for lunch."
"By yourself?"
"I was doing this by myself way before you crashed my party."
"I wouldn't say crashed." he smiled. "Think gently landed."
"Castle, you stole my case photos and you forced yourself into the precinct as my shadow. You decided to name your character after a stripper and oh right, she's naked on all the covers. I'm going to have to say crashed."
"Fine." Castle looked at his charge working away on the kitchen counter. "How long do you have?"
"I don't know... 40 minutes?"
"I'll come find you." He was already picking up his jacket. He muted his phone but he heard all of her objections. "Alexis, I'm heading out to the park. I'll be back in a bit."
"Say hi to Detective Beckett for me." She grinned as he placed a kiss on her forehead. "I love you."
"Ditto kiddo." He said as the door shut and locked behind him.
"Castle, are you listening to me?" He heard her yell through the phone.
"Loud and clear. 10-4."
"You're coming anyways aren't you?"
"Getting into a cab as we speak." Castle pulled open the yellow door and told the driver to head to Central Park. He nodded and started the meter.
"Great." Beckett sighed and he could hear her playing with her sandwich wrapper. "I'm under the Alice in the Wonderland statue."
"How appropriate."
"I'll see you when you get here, Tweedle Dum."
"Bye Alice."