The Story of Them Chapter 4, a castle fanfic

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"Rick, where do—" Kate started, but when she looked up, he was gone. She turned around just in time to see the loft's door clicking shut.

"Richard Castle!" she mumbled to herself. That man could be so frustrating sometimes. But she loved him anyway and loved this little adventure he set up for her. But where could she find a bunch of Girl Scouts in New York City? Kate finished her breakfast, trying hard to think of where he could have placed the next clue. Bringing the plates over to the sink, she scraped the remainders of the food down the disposal, and started washing the dishes. As she flipped over her plate, she saw another small piece of paper taped to the bottom: Google It!

Oh, Rick. He knew her so well. After finishing the dishes, Kate went into the study and opened Rick's laptop to Google the Girl Scouts of New York City. And there it was, The Girl Scouts of the USA's national headquarters was on Fifth Avenue. She left the loft 15 minutes later.

There was a table outside the headquarters armed by four little girls and two adult women, selling cookies on the sidewalk. Kate walked up, not knowing where Rick would have placed the next clue. She looked around the building's entrance for a note, looking everywhere from the front door, to the business sign, to the table of girls. A little girl of maybe six years old, with blonde hair pulled back into a braid, looked up at Kate and asked, "Would you like to buy some cookies?"

Kate looked down at her and smiled. The little girl beamed up at her and ran back around the table, as Kate walked up to look at the selection. Her eyes met those of one of the adults and she embarrassingly asked, "You don't by chance have a note for me do you?"

The woman smiled, her dark brown eyes sparkling in the morning sun. "If you're Kate Beckett, I do!"

Kate returned the smile as she paid for a box of Thin Mints and thanked the woman for giving her the note Rick had hidden with them.

Kate-

You found it. And now you get cookies too!

You first called me "Big Rick" during that party for models a couple years back. And you've blessed me with the name multiple times since. What you don't know is that Ryan and Espo spilled your little secret. And may I just say, you make a fabulous tennis player.

I remember when you first read Heat Wave. I told you there was a sex scene between Nikki and the roguishly handsome reporter who helps her. You said you were good with it because he was nothing like me. I'm pretty sure you were lying. I'm also pretty sure you were lying when you said your date wasn't with my book. I hid in the bathroom waiting for you after you found out during that case with the man posing as an Arctic explorer and calling himself CIA. I know you like page 105. It is the most worn page in your copy. I'm glad you like it. And I'm glad you now believe in Rook like you believe in me. I always want to be your Jameson Rook.

And then my book deal got extended for three more books. We had just reunited that little boy with his biological father and it was supposed to be our last case together. I am so glad it wasn't. I was so excited when you turned back around and said, "That was Esposito, there's been a murder. You comin'?" I'll always follow you Kate.

The next clue may be a bit creepy, but here it is: Elizabeth Dryden.

Love,

Big Rick

He was right. It was a little creepy. Kate walked through the cemetery where they had found Crow dead with a stake in his heart near his mother's grave. Elizabeth Dryden. Kate was never a fan of cemeteries, especially since her mother was murdered. And then of course she was shot in one. But she quickly found the correct tombstone, the one with the tall granite angel. A note was taped next to the stone inscription. Kate unfolded the paper and read.

Kate-

Our first Halloween you scared the crap out of me, with that green thing with silver pompoms dangling from it. Margot, right? I gave you the bird. You still have that bird, Edgar Allen Poe's raven of sorts. I saw it in the window of your old apartment and then again when you moved in. I'm glad you kept it.

I may kill your patience, but I'm glad you kept me around. I've already thanked you for being there for Alexis when she needs a trusted woman around. But I'm going to do it again. When Hayley Blue was murdered, Alexis was crushed. You took her seriously. You believed her and trusted what she had to say. And you went to the memorial concert with us. Plus, you told her not to do a study abroad so she could spend time with the world's greatest dad instead. You love Alexis. And that makes me love you even more.

After that came the case of that crazy messed up rich family, the Wellesleys, covering up the murder and true paternity of Olivia and murdering an innocent bike messenger in the process. One of the suspects asked us if we were together. I said not yet and you said absolutely not. Yet again, I win. Anyway, your next clue awaits you in the place where Lanie cuts up dead people.

I hope you're still enjoying the hunt and my letters. Like my good friend, Norman Jessup, I'm quite the…you know…wordsmith.

Rick

It took Kate a good 45 minutes to get down to the morgue. Opening the door, she saw Lanie hovering over a dead body, sewing up the man's chest after his autopsy. "'Bout time you got her girlfriend!" she said as the detective came to take a seat on an empty table.

"Sorry, traffic. I see Rick has roped you into this as well."

"Girl, that man is a genius. He'll do absolutely anything for you."

"Yeah, yeah he will," Kate replied with a smile, a slight blush warming her cheeks as she looked down at the floor. "So what did he leave for me here?"

"He didn't say much. Just that you'd use your "witchy powers" to figure it out. Something about having a case with a fiancé and a wife. And a real "Desperate Housewives" moment. Along with rubbing off on you. I have no idea what any of that means, but he did hide something in here. So have at it, Kate!" Lanie said as she continued to sew up the man on her table.

Kate thought about it for a minute, swinging her legs back and forth as she sat on the unoccupied autopsy table. She remembered the case with the man dropped down the garbage shoot and his wife and fiancé fighting over something of his. She wracked her brain to try and remember what it was. Jumping off the table, Kate roamed the room thinking. They had been called to Jersey to break up the women's feud. The fiancé had broken into the wife's extended office area for…a pen!

Kate swung her head around searching for any pens in the room, finding a mug full of them on the desk in the corner next to the computer. After making it over to the collection of pens, Kate picked them up one by one. Lanie was watching her friend search, smirking at the adorableness of she and Castle. Kate's face lit up the moment she found it. A pen marked for a business, a business she remembers was once a crime scene: Victor Fink Galleries. The address was also printed.

"I see you found it," Lanie started, "He's a clever one that Castle. Have fun with this Kate. He's a good man. A child at times, yes, but a good man."

"Thanks, Lanie. I will," Kate responded as she left the morgue to find the next clue on the hunt her Writer Man had sent her on. She really was having fun.

The Victor Fink Art Gallery was closed after the man's murder; it was now converted into a photography studio. Kate hurried up to the front door of the business and found another note taped onto the mailbox.

Kate-

I said it then and I'll say it again. You really are my work wife. And I still think we should get a dog, like Lucy, who helped us figure out who Jeremy was. I don't know what happened to he and Emma, but the writer in me still hopes they had a happy ending.

I still believe in ice bullets.

We went to a wedding together. I'm sure you remember; you caught the bouquet. Go home, grab some lunch, and find another book. It shouldn't take you too long to figure out which one.

Love you,

Rick

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