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Magic

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Poof! You're Dead post episode story

(For the purposes of this fic, the order of episodes goes - Last Call, Poof! You're dead, Nikki Heat)

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The ring box cuts into Castle's palm, his fingers curling around the edges and he squeezes. The indignation that Ryan wants to just 'ask' has him wanting to shake his friend. You don't just ask the biggest question of your life. Even if, in his case, it's been asked twice.

"Actually most girls prefer something a little more intimate." Beckett's voice interrupts their conversation and he can't believe that Ryan is nodding along in agreement.

"What, so he's just supposed to be boring and ask, 'Will you marry me?'" He lifts the velvet covered box toward her, and, flicking the lid open - exposing the ring - he attempts to prove his point. Only he forgets for a moment what exactly he is asking, and more to the point whom.

This is Beckett. This is his 'never gonna happen' 'far off fantasy', where one day he hopes that his most secret of dreams will come to pass. Where - not that he will ever admit it publicly - he'll get to utter this most magical of questions to her. And he's gone and kind of proposed in an alleyway.

Her eyes widen, head tilting to the side and he swears there's a 'yes' on the tip of her tongue. Although that might be more his delusions whispering the word rather than actual reality. Still, there's a definite moment before Ryan goes to take the ring away from him, that he can feel the… possibilities in a promise of soon.

Side stepping Ryan, he dramatically claps his hands together - discretely pushing the box up his sleeve - before splaying his fingers open to reveal his now empty hands.

"What…? Where…? How…?" Ryan splutters his astonishment, starring in horror at the fact that Jenny's future engagement ring has disappeared and Castle chuckles quietly. Gotcha.

Watching the expressions play across Ryan's face, he doesn't see Beckett, the way she inches closer, until it's too late, her fingers apparently in and out of his jacket's sleeve without him realizing. It's only when she holds the ring box out to Ryan that he comprehends that her hands were on him again and he didn't even feel it. First his phone and now this!

"You got me again!" he exclaims, and she responds with a sexy wiggle of her eyebrows before heading toward the crime scene.

Left with nothing to do but follow the pull between them, he trails after her. However, as she begins telling him about the victim, he forces himself to switch gears in order to concentrate on the reason that they are here. Listening as the boys add in their information, he resists commenting on Ryan's rose-colored outlook on marriage, lifting an eyebrow instead. It's Espo, clearly less than impressed, who begins muttering about puppy love as he follows after his partner, the two of them moving away to start calling the witnesses in.

Turning to face Beckett now that they have some privacy, or as much as one can get in the middle of a crime scene, he announces, "So I contacted the studio last night. Got them to send Natalie Rhodes' audition tape to me, and I'm not impressed. I don't care what she does in preparation for a role. Or how many days she spends in a crawl space. She's not Nikki. Nikki Heat is a smart, complicated detective with, with enormous... depth, and-"

Lifting a hand, Beckett cups his chin, turning him toward the alleyway's entrance and he notices the black town car.

"Tell me that's a surprise visit from the Mayor?!"

"No, Castle. I notified Natalie that a body dropped. Now play nice."

Play nice! Seriously!

Feigning his best pseudo-smile, he pushes his annoyance down while the glee spreads across Beckett's face. He can't understand why she has agreed to this, why she's happy and willing to indulge this poor impostor and her demand for a closer look into Nikki's life - their life.

Unsurprisingly, Natalie lives up to his low expectations as she's introduced to the rest of the team; he can understand the fact that the boys are not the main focus of her attention, but when he barely receives an acknowledgment, he can't help but shake his head in disbelief – does she not know who he is?!

Dividing up what needs to be done, Beckett sends Ryan and Espo in the direction of the victim's office, leaving him following the newly formed 'best buddies' - his muse and his muse's wannabe. Natalie's off-handed remark that his name 'sounded familiar' still stings – badly. How can she not know who he is?

"Hello, I'm your creator."


Natalie prances toward her adoring crowd of fans and he resists the urge to throw her coat and purse after her. His mother raised him better than that. Beckett's raised him better than that!

"I still can't believe you said it was okay for her to tail us." The whine in his voice leaks through in spite of his desire for it to sound less like he's throwing a tantrum and more like he's commenting on Beckett's normally good sense.

"Not 'us', Castle, me."

Oh. Oh. He sees what this really is – Beckett's a fan. A fan of her.

"Oh. My. God. You like her, don't you?

"Yeah, so?"

So? So what happened to her usual refined taste in all things?

"So was it her work in Mutilation High that changed your life or perhaps Demon Patrol?"

"Well, the way that she beheaded those zombies with the samurai sword was pretty cool."

Okay. Beckett does have a point; zombies and samurai swords are up there on his list of all things cool, but…

"Yes, it was cool, but that does not make her Nikki Heat! Nikki Heat is classy, she's complicated, she's a... thinking man's cop."

Shifting the monstrosity of a coat in his arms, he watches as Natalie flitters among the cops, being anything but!

"Well, you can't judge a book by its cover."

"Yes, actually. Yes, I can. When it's my book. And she's a civilian. I mean aren't you afraid she's gonna get in the way and mess up the case?"

Beckett lifts an eyebrow, her kissable lips drawing together as if fighting back a smirk, and he realizes that he may have forgotten that technically he's a civilian. Except comparing what he does to her is like comparing – okay he is coming up blank, which only shows him how ridiculous this is.

Taking her eyes off him, Beckett concentrates on the uniforms walking into the bullpen, and he watches as their witnesses are ushered into a vacant room.

"Can you..." Beckett lifts the coat in her arms and he nods, stepping forward a fraction so that she can pile it on top, before she struts purposely across the room, calling out as she goes. "Hey, Natalie! Want to join in on your first interview?"


This morning they have done nothing but hear from less than helpful witnesses and sleazy PIs, so listening to Espo explain that Tonya and Bill Wellington declined their interview request, that they apparently didn't see it as important enough, irritates her to no end. They have a lead thanks to Natalie and the bag of money, but it's going to fizzle out because of uncooperative people.

Not on her watch.

"Let's see if they'll accept an invitation to my interrogation party." Standing as she states her opinion on the matter, she swears Ryan's eyes flicker the length of her body.

What the?

"So uncanny," he whispers to Espo, whose whole body seems to be edging away from her, except as he joins in with a "spooky" she realizes that he's not looking at her and she turns, tracking his line of sight.

Her confusion quickly morphs as Castle chimes in with a "sexy" and there's now a heated flush spreading up from her chest that she hopes no one notices. The lower timbre of his voice, the way he breathed the word out, cuts straight to her core, but in next second a wash of cold water chills any fire. Was he directing the sexy at her…? Or at… Natalie?

Ignoring that worrying thought, she concentrates on the actress beside her who appears to be mimicking her stance. Does she really look like that?

"Are you... doing... me?"

"I'm just working on your posture. You know it changes depending whether you have a suspect or not."

Replying with a stunned "really?" she responds automatically, barley noticing that Natalie has left; directs the boys to do the same. The ever-growing headache is drawing her attention away from the others, from the case, and self-consciously she attempts to sit on the edge of the desk, crossing and uncrossing her arms self-consciously. The whole thing is beginning to feel… awkward.

Looking up, she sees Castle doing his best to smother his smirk. He had reservations about this from the start and she's just waiting for the 'I told you' he no doubt wants to add.

"Say it, Castle."

"Say what?"

Looking at him, she lifts an eyebrow and waits but he merely smiles sweetly instead. Apparently he's not going there and she probably should be thankful. The pain between her eyebrows certainly is.

"Are you free for dinner tonight?"

His arms uncross, a hand running through his beautiful head of hair, and she longs to do the same. She wonders if those luscious brown strands are as soft to touch as she imagines.

"Beckett?"

"Huh?"

"Dinner. Tonight."

The 'yes' is begging for release but she knows that tonight she's hardly going to be good company. Regardless of how disappointed she is to decline, they've been having too much fun on their 'dates' to wreck their running streak with her growing bad mood.

"Maybe tomorrow, Castle?"

Dropping his gaze, he studies his lap, but the look of regret fades quickly when she asks, "Wanna help me get ready for when they bring Tonya Wellington into interrogation?"


Staring down at the files, Castle huffs unhappily. He thought yesterday was a little crazy, but today has gone from weird to worse. Beckett's spiral over Natalie's behavior was a little scary, and while he understands that to her coffee is sacred, he never really knew how much until today.

Now, sitting here pushing paperwork as they gather information on Duke and his assistant, he feels tonight is going to be another long one. While APB's are out on Greta Morgan he can't see how anything is going to pop soon.

Sticking the pencil between his teeth, he uses it as a gag. He very much wants to tell Beckett to call it a night so they can grab the dinner that she hinted at yesterday but-

"Talk to enough people and something usually shakes out."

The pencil falls from his grip and clatters to the floor as he stares transfixed, eyes locked on Natalie as she interrupts their research. Except it's not Natalie. It's as if Nikki's been brought to life and she looks just like Beckett.

The strut. The clothes. The hair. Wow.

"Just like I dreamed it!" Damn. Pulling his stare away from Nikki - from Natalie - he focuses on a less than impressed looking Beckett and he asks guiltily, "Did I say that out loud?"

Because in his dreams there certainly aren't two of them; it's just sometimes there's a very fine line in his head between what Nikki looks like and Beckett. Sometimes even he's not sure who is who when he's fantasizing - when he's writing.

Beckett snatches the files from Natalie's hand and he's sure that he's missed something here, but it's all too hard to focus when all that he desires is standing next to a high quality double.

This is beginning to hurt his head.

"It's Velasquez, and you are not me!"

Beckett's irritation has him wanting to jump up and stand beside her in defense, if only he could get his legs to work. He hates seeing her this upset, especially over something that, at the start, she had really enjoyed, but he's having a hard time remembering - well anything.

Leaning on the table, Natalie eyes him from across the desk, and he really wishes he could move, edge away just a little from the hungry stare that is piercing his soul.

"No, but I'm getting warmer." The sultry way she declares her nearly-there success almost has Castle concurring with the actress. She certainly is getting pretty damn close, but as Beckett cuts across from her to announce that they should call it a night, he's reminded that he doesn't want a poor imitation. What he wants is the real deal. What he wants is Beckett.

"What?! But it's so early!" Natalie's whine over the fact that they're being sent home is something that he actually agrees with. He doesn't want to leave, not yet, not without Beckett.

"Yeah, well it's a high-stress job, and I wouldn't want anyone to get burnt out." Beckett's explanation has so many holes in it he's surprised she's not slipping in the puddles that her sieve is creating.

"All right. I'll go pack up my things. Rick, can you help?" A pouting Natalie turns on him, and he looks between Beckett and faux-Beckett. He doesn't want to go, doesn't want to lose any chance of turning tonight around for the better. It's Saturday night, and he only has three more sleeps until their stupid self-imposed single life can come to an end.

Unfortunately, Beckett follows Natalie toward the door, and he sees his chance of something evaporating with their retreating forms. Left with no choice, he stands and answers, "Of course."


Shutting the door, Kate resists the urge to open it just so she can slam it a little harder, a little louder. She can see through the open blinds that Castle is already catching up to Natalie and it shatters a part of her that took so long to rebuild.

She can't believe her boyfriend is being stolen once again. Except there lies her problem. He's not, never has been, because every time they get to this point, get to where they could be - magic - someone comes along and takes him away. She's lived through Ellie Monroe, through Gina, and now Natalie. How much more can she take?

Leaving those ugly thoughts in the back room, she opens the door and exits, heads toward her desk in hopes of a distraction. There's nothing waiting for her at home. She'd been holding on to the hope that dinner with Castle was going to happen, except of course – it didn't. And now...

Dropping her folder, she hears a thud from the elevator and looking up she catches a glimpse of Castle flat against the wall, Nikki – Natalie – reducing the distance between them.

The doors close, but she doesn't need to see the rest. Castle's not the only one with an imagination, and, grabbing her coat, she heads toward the stairs.

Home seems to be exactly what she needs right now.


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Hopefully Jo you are still talking to me after your fluff went - sideways. Sorry. Really!

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Thank you for all of your amazing reviews, and to those that are making it a favourite or following xoxo

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Thanks to Lou for your beta and helping me with homework ;-)

and to those that help out behind the scenes, especially for your support in my writing - My mum amongst them, lol

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Thoughts?