Chapter Four

Rick still loved her. Kate had to believe that, she couldn't accept the idea that he didn't. She had two and a half years' worth of evidence that he loved her. She knew the depth of the man he might be deeply hurt and angry with her and trying to move on but in that brief moment that she'd looked into his eyes beyond the shock and pain she glimpsed something else. The love was still there. Obscured, damaged but still there. It was something she could work with. It wouldn't be easy; she had no illusions about that. It would probably be the most difficult emotional fight of her life aside from her mother's case but it was a fight she had to win.

All the women had been able to watch the other women enter, the exception being Kate. None of the others got to see her entrance. Kate knew Castle's tells quite well and she knew that her real rivals would be the lovely Irish doctor and Erin Boyle. She didn't know the story but there was a familiarity between the two. Aside from her Erin had been the only one daring enough to kiss Rick on the mouth. That had set a surge of pure jealously through Kate.

That's my man you were kissing, damn you or at least he's damn well going to be! Kate shook her head at her own thoughts. She' agreed to the rules of the show so she had to keep her cool or get thrown off the show.

There were only a few minutes left before Castle had to go inside and start the cocktail party and start spending time with the ladies. In one way the structure of the show was much superior to its major competitor. Each woman was allotted five uninterrupted minutes with Castle and none of the others could try and pull him away in that time.

Castle wasn't sure how he was going to deal with this first night. He had been sure of himself until Kate Beckett showed up and sent his mind reeling. What was she up to, what was her game? This just didn't make sense. What happened in the last two and a half months and what about Dr. Motorcycle boy? He shook his head and what about Erin? Sure their break-up had been amicable and they'd remained friends but what spurred her sudden interest after nearly twenty years? Maybe that could be a benefit. After all they were good friends, who was to say that friendship couldn't blossom into a rekindled romance. She was beautiful, intelligent and hot.

Gathering his courage Castle walked inside chuckling a little at his own analogy. Here goes Richard into the lioness' den. Or perhaps; Ave Caesar morituri Te salutant. A little fear was reasonable. Although the women were all professional women and had agreed to the rules he knew what a jealous woman could be capable of.

Walking into the living room of the townhouse he was met by Blaise Klein. The ladies all had their favorite drinks so Richard went to the portable bar and asked for a tall scotch and soda.

Blaise called for everyone's attention. "Now's here is how tonight is going to work. We have allotted 30 minutes for a quick mixer so that everyone can get to know one another. After that each lady gets five minutes of alone time with Rick. The rest will continue to mingle. You will draw a number out of that bowl and that will be the order in which you talk with Rick. At the end of the alone time two of the ladies will receive an individual date with Rick, this week. One on Wednesday and one on Friday. That will be by random drawing. The ladies will have the choice of dinner and a movie or dinner and dancing. Also on Saturday there will be a group date, the only one on this show. This was Richard's idea he wants to see how creative and adaptive you are. There is a Science fiction and fantasy convention at the convention center.

You will be doing cosplay. Choose your favorite sci-fi or fantasy character and portray her in costume. This is where your adaptability come in. If you're not into sci-fi or fantasy do some quick research and pick a character or make one up of your own."

Kate was thrilled by this announcement. No one knew that she was a secret Sci-fi geek and loved a defunct space opera called Nebula Nine and still had her Lieutenant Chloe costume, early points for her. Allison McClintock was also happy about this announcement. With her statuesque figure and long black hair she was a natural for Wonder Woman.

There was another element of this that pleased Blaise immensely. At least some of the viewers would also be at the convention and would be trying hard to figure out who was who, especially if Rick chose a masked figure. Blaise was going to attend; it looked like a lot of fun. With her dark beauty she would either go as a vampire or a James Bond villainess.

After the announcements the party began in earnest, Castle circulating laughing and flirting with all of them except Kate. He spoke to her of course but the old light banter and innuendo were glaringly absent. He was polite to her but as distant as he could be under the circumstances. Kate wasn't going to allow this much longer. She finally managed to corner him.

"Look Rick I know that you're mad at me and I deserve it. But I'm on this show and I deserve the same treatment the other women get. We'll talk more on our alone time but don't treat me like an enemy because I'm not."

Shortly after that the alone times started. The Irish doctor got the first one. She walked up and smiled nothing coy about it, an open and joyous smile that had her lovely green eyes sparkling.

"Well Rick are you going to tell me the secrets behind the public image? I'll need some advantage if I'm to be the woman standing by your side when all this is over." He leaned in and whispered something in her ear that had her blushing at first then she laughed merrily and whispered back; "I may be a doctor but my patients are all children I would certainly like to examine you." they chatted for the rest of her allotted time and then she kissed him and sashayed away. Castle chuckled. He'd thrown out an innuendo to see how she'd react. She'd laughed and met it with an innuendo of her own. She was going to be interesting.

The next woman up was the lawyer. Amanda Grayson. African-American she reminded Rick a lot of Vanessa Williams. She gave him a warm smile then said;

"If you ask me to sing colors of the wind, I'll slap you silly." Rick laughed, he liked her spunk.

"Okay I'll admit you look a lot like Vanessa Williams but so much that I can't tell the difference. While all beautiful women have certain similar characteristics, they each have something that makes them unique. It will be interesting to find out what makes you unique."

Amanda's laugh matched his. "Oh you are quite the charmer aren't you Rick? Of course I assumed that you would be. Maybe I'll be the one to see what makes you unique." She let her eyes roam over his body. "Men don't have it all to themselves in liking a nice firm booty." She too kissed him at the end of their talk.

The fashion editor was Vivian Park, a Korean-American, with a rather biting sense of humor that Rick enjoyed. She was also as quick as Castle in shooting out an innuendo.

"You know that I'm into fashion, Rick. Am I going to get a chance to go through your drawers?"

Castle was finally relaxing and getting into this. So far, all the women had been smart, a little sassy and fun. The restaurant owner, Grace Long had been a little shier than the previous three but still made her interest quite plain.

Erin Boyle took Rick's hand and drew him into another room. She was more serious than the others. She started the talk with another kiss then stepped back and pulled him down beside her on a couch. "Rick I know that my coming on this show might seem like a whim. It's not. I mean we've been friends for so long and we did date but our break-up wasn't a bad one we didn't want permanence with each other at the time so it was good. Since then for various good reasons it was never the right time. Our various marriages, our careers and other influences militated against it. You know that I've always liked you and you liked me and Nikki. So maybe this is the time we can learn to love each other. Maybe not maybe we'll just stay friends but I really want to give us a shot. But whether it works for us or not, we'll still be friends won't we? I never want that to change."

Rick smiled and leaned in to kiss Erin, rather thoroughly, setting her pulse racing. Boy that man can kiss. I'd forgotten how well. Even if we don't fall in love I wouldn't mind being friends with benefits.

Rick's eyes crinkled with his smile. "You never have to worry about that, Erin. I'll always be your friend." Erin relaxed against the cushion and looked up at Rick.

"That's good to know. Now I think we can manage one more kiss before someone else wants her time."

As luck would have it, Kate got the last alone time, which was more than acceptable to her. She might get lucky and get an extra minute or two. She too pulled Rick into another room and, like Erin grabbed a startled Rick and kissed him, hot, demanding, and almost savage. She released him and with tears in her eyes. Her voice soft, yet not pleading, simply stating;

"Rick I know that you don't believe me right now and I don't blame you but the truth is that I do love you, I'm in love with you and I am going to prove that to you if you only give me this one last chance. The last two and a half months have been horrible without you. I am not here for me, Rick and I'm not here for you. I'm here for us. We can be amazing together. This time alone has forced me to look at the future I want. Any future without you is so bleak that I can't even bear to think of it. You spent the last two and a half years showing me how much you loved me and I was too stupid to see it. Please don't let the past two and a half months wash that away."

Rick looked carefully at the woman before him. He'd never seen her like this, open and vulnerable, soft and yet fiercely strong and seemingly ready to fight for what she wanted to restore what was lost and move beyond that to something far more. Yet he was still suspicious, hurt, hesitant.

"I don't know Kate. I've spent the last two and a half months trying to get over you, trying to get past the pain and frankly past the distrust of not only you but all women outside of my mother and daughter. But damn it, here you are telling me that you love me. I want so much to believe it but I don't know if I should, I don't even know if I can."

The tears that had been pooling in her eyes now fell and her whole body trembled as she burrowed into him.

"You can Rick, you must. All that I can ask of you is that you really look into your heart and decide if you still love me. If you do, even if it's just a little, then please let me stay and prove my love to you. Let me bring your love back to the fullness that we both deserve. She smiled through her tears. My friend Maddie once said that I wanted to make little Castle babies and I do Rick, I do."

"I can't promise you anything at this point Kate. It would be foolish of me to do so. But I will give you a chance, at least until after our first individual date. Then we'll see." Kate got a little aggressive again. She pulled his head down to hers and sought his mouth, nipping his lower lip.

When his mouth opened in surprise, she thrust her tongue into it, held the kiss for a moment then pulled away. "Oh yes we'll see Rick. YOU"LL see."

The alone time now over the drawings for the first two individual dates were conducted. Allison won the first choice and she opted for Friday night and dinner with dancing. Erin got Wednesday night with dinner and a movie. Both were elated although Erin not as much as Allison.

Author's note: I had to get at least these chapters up and free my mind so I can catch up with some of my other stories. This one isn't over yet although it's not going to be a long one. Please let me know which story you want an update on next. Reader's choice. Majority rules.

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Swordwriter