The Premiere
Once again, thank you so much for all the reviews. I was honestly touched and completely blown away.
Thank you to: gayfortinafey, marie-scr, softer, Nathan fan, I'm Widget, CharlieBlue1977, SouthernWolfMyjic, AlexConrad, osulover, aero09, Jayce Gish, andy1990, foreverhopefuloflove, underarrest39, Foghorn-clj87, ClaireBearForEv, Eliza C., believesvueo, Beckett NYPD, Mariah94, nobody, castleelovee, WriterHorse32, Charmed225 and tiara733.
Here goes the final installment. I'm not 100% sure about the ending, but I hope you like it. Definitely planning on writing more Castle fic in the future, and that's thanks to the support from you guys. :)
Part 3:
Kate was completely engrossed by the movie; drawn in entirely by the plot and the developing storyline between the characters, even though she had read the book far more times than she would ever tell Castle. When she knew the 'scene' between Nikki and Rook was about to occur, Kate bit down on her lower lip but didn't dare look at Castle. She sensed rather than saw Castle shift slightly awkwardly in his seat, but her eyes were firmly fixed on the movie screen as if her life depended on it. In the loosest sense it did. If Castle found out the effect watching these scenes between Nikki and Rook was having on her, she'd never hear the end of it and she doubted it was something he would keep to himself.
Compared to Kate and Castle, Angelina and Nathan seemed unfazed as they watched their performances on the silver screen. Clearly to them it was just a job, but perhaps where Kate and Castle were concerned it was more than that?
The scene began to develop, the intimacy between the two characters Castle had created intensifying. Kate found that she knew almost every word the characters were going to say before they said them, realising that the production company had done very little to change the original story. She was glad of that, it pissed her off no end when film adaptations didn't live up to the original novel. Part of wished they had cut the sex scene though, not because it wasn't well played and filmed, but because it was just too weird watching it with Castle just centimetres away from her.
Kate finally braved looking across at Castle, who was still in his seat now. Although his eyes were also fixed on the screen, he had placed his hand over Alexis' eyes whilst Nikki and Rook did the deed (much to his daughter's muffled protestations that she was 16 not 6). Castle could sense Kate looking at him and turned towards her, one eye still on the screen , at least until he saw the look in Beckett's eyes. He hadn't imagined that, had he? Sometimes it was hard to tell what Kate was thinking; she teased him and pretended to flirt with him so often that it was difficult to tell if she was being genuine now. The semi-darkness of the theatre wasn't helping him out any either.
Kate gave him a small smile, before fixing her gaze back on the screen and re-immersing herself into the story, as the love scene played out a little more tastefully than the way Castle had written it.
When the movie finished people began to leave their seats and Kate saw Esposito, Ryan and Ryan's girlfriend had appeared at the end of their row.
"Yo," Esposito greeted, waving in the direction of Alexis and Martha.
"Great movie." Ryan grinned, holding Sarah's hand in his.
"I loved it." She added. "The actor who played Rook is dreamy." She smiled.
"Do you want to meet him?" Castle asked Sarah who almost squealed in response. Ryan looked less pleased though. "Beckett, you coming too?" He asked, calling back to her over his shoulder as he, his family, Ryan and his girlfriend made their way to meet Angelina, Nathan and the rest of the cast.
"No thanks Castle, I need to get home." It was already eleven o'clock at she'd have to be at the station early the next morning.
"Are you sure?" He asked, having stopped in his tracks now.
Kate fixed a grin to her face to convince him. "Yes, I'm sure. Some of us have real jobs to go to. Goodnight Castle, I had fun."
"I'll take her home." Esposito offered and Kate gratefully accepted, having arrived by limo and not wanting to take the subway home in her fancy dress, even though she did have her badge and gun into her small purse.
"Goodnight Kate, thanks for coming." Castle said, before being dragged away by Alexis.
Kate watched after him for a second, before turning and heading for the exit with Esposito. If Kate had suspected that Castle would rather have been with her than hobnobbing with the stars of the movie he had made possible, she would not have been very mistaken.
On their way out of the theatre, Kate was stopped by a man she hadn't met before but had seen with Castle's publishers earlier in the evening.
"I'll catch you up, Esposito." Kate told her co-worker when the publisher beckoned her over.
"Hi there," He greeted, shaking Kate's hand. "My name is Thomas Everett, I'm one of Rick's publisher's. We haven't met before, but I wanted to introduce myself to the woman who inspired Nikki Heat."
"Pleasure to meet you, Thomas." She replied. "It was very kind of you to invite me this evening, Castle was very insistent that I attended." She smiled.
Thomas looked a little surprised. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. It was Rick who requested that we booked a seat for you tonight. He said it was only right for you to be here, seeing as technically without you there wouldn't have been a Nikki Heat novel, let alone a movie."
Kate's thoughts were swirling more quickly than she could control them as she excused herself from Thomas' company and caught up with Esposito.
"Are you ready to go?" Esposito asked, knowing better to question Kate, who simply nodded and followed him towards his car.
Kate and Esposito talked about the movie as he navigated his way through the quiet New York streets towards Beckett's apartment. Esposito was careful with what he said, mainly pursuing topics such as how the book and movie compared, and how good he thought Angelina and Nathan had been in their respective roles. Kate was grateful for this, not wanting to talk about anything too connected to Castle. Her mind was still racing from what Thomas had told her.
When they arrived at Kate's apartment, she thanked him for the ride and they said goodnight. Once she was alone, Kate boiled some water to make a cup of tea but wasn't quite ready to take off the dress. Who knew when she would get another opportunity to wear it.
Kate made herself some tea and took it with her into the living room. Still wearing the dress, she took a seat on the couch and sipped. It had been a long day and she was tired, but she knew sleep was far away. Perhaps she was being ridiculous for obsessing over the white lie Castle had told but if he'd asked her nicely, there was no way she would have turned down the opportunity to go and see a film adaptation of one of her favourite author's books. Of course she never would have let Castle know this and maybe that was the problem. It was then that it hit her, maybe Castle was worried that she would have rejected the invitation; rejected him. He came across as confident on the side of arrogant, but the more that Kate had come to know him she had learned that this was a mask for the real Richard Castle.
Still puzzling over it all, Kate finished her tea and headed towards her bedroom to get ready for bed. She wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep, but at the very least she could get some rest. She had barely reached her bedroom door when she heard the intercom buzz, alerting her that she had company. Making sure her gun was nearby, Kate opened the door.
"Castle? What are you doing here?" She didn't even bother to hide her surprise, she had expected Castle to be out all night, partying with the stars and perhaps heading home with an attractive, young superfan of his.
"I felt bad that I was there 'hobnobbing with the stars' while Nikki Heat was getting a lift home with a cop." He grinned, holding out a bottle of wine to show how sorry he was.
"You don't have to feel bad about it Castle, it was my choice and without you I wouldn't even had been able to attend, let alone have a dress like this to wear." Castle's humility was confusing her no end.
"I lied." Castle said suddenly, then looked shocked as if he had had no control over the words. "My publisher didn't tell me I had to invite you, I wanted you to be there."
Kate smiled triumphantly. "I am a detective, Castle, not much gets passed me."
"A drink?" He asked, his face a little flushed.
"Castle, it's midnight and I was on my way to bed." She protested.
"In that dress?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow. In the full light of Kate's apartment, it suited her even more. The dress was the same shade as Beckett's favourite brown leather jacket, corseted at the bodice and flowing into a narrow silky skirt.
Kate rolled her eyes at him. "Thank you for wine and thank you for stopping by, but I'm tired and I want to go to bed."
Castle didn't leave though, still not taking the hint. He seemed to have something to say but he didn't seem to be able to find the words, perhaps he should have written it down instead.
"I asked you to the premiere tonight because I wanted you to be there." He began, lamely repeating what he had already said.
"Yes, Castle I know..."
"Not because you're the inspiration for Nikki Heat, definitely not because my publisher told me to invite you and not because I felt I owed it to you for having to put up with me day in day out." He paused, knowing he could still back out and claim his unusual behaviour on the champagne he had consumed, but in truth he had never felt more sober. "I invited you because I wanted to spend the evening with you, away from work and I thought inviting you to the premiere on false pretences was the only way to get you to say yes."
"Rick, Richard..." Kate began, trying out his name and how it felt coming from her lips. "You don't have to con me into spending time with you."
"I don't?..." Castle looked surprised and confused in equal measures, making Kate realise that although Castle was good at reading people, his abilities were far from perfect. He took a breath and seemed to gain confidence, becoming his usual self again. "So, if I was to ask you out...perhaps for dinner and a movie, you wouldn't say 'no'?"
"No." Kate replied, a smile tugging at her lips no matter how hard she fought it. If she lied to Castle now and said she wasn't interested, she was aware that she would lose her chance. She had seen more sides to Castle in the last year than she could ever have imagined, and she suddenly wanted to know everything about who he really was.
Castle looked confused. "You mean you'd say 'no', or that 'no, you wouldn't say no'."
The puzzled expression on Castle's face was definitely adorable, and Kate couldn't help but laugh at him. "I wouldn't say no, Rick, not if you asked me properly."
His face broke into a grin again. "Kate Beckett, could I request the pleasure of your company on Saturday to have dinner and see a movie with me?"
Kate took a breath, knowing that her positive response would change everything between them and possibly everything about her life, but she was willing to take that chance. Richard Castle had become part of her life, as had Martha and Alexis, and she wanted to become a part of their lives too; part of their family.
"Yes, I'd like that." She said finally, with a smile.
Castle beamed. "I'll see you on Saturday then."
"Unless someone gets murdered first."
"Unless someone gets murdered first." He echoed, brushing a kiss against her cheek before he left her apartment.
Kate was grinning softly as she closed the door after him, and the grin didn't leave till long after she had undressed and crawled into bed.
