New chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter Six
Lanie and Esposito were there within the half-hour. Kate could hear Lanie's rapid tapping on the front door and knew that her friend was restraining herself from knocking the door down with the full force of her body. Kate, meanwhile, was in the middle of brushing her teeth in her own bathroom. She spit out the foam in her mouth before calling out to her father to answer the door for her.
She had to suppress giggles when she heard her father's half-formed greeting, Lanie's, "Excuse me, Mr. Beckett!" and the clacking of her heels on the hallway floor, coming nearer and nearer. Kate rinsed out her mouth and toothbrush calmly at the woman's approach, just slipping it into the holder when her bathroom door burst open. Kate looked, nonchalantly, towards her dark-skinned and flustered best friend, one hand still on the knob.
"Don't you knock?" she asked, bored. Lanie's eye narrowed.
"Don't be cute with me, Girl," she growled. "You better start talking; when, exactly, were you going to tell me about Richard Freaking Castle being your fiancé?"
Kate shrugged. "I never said that," she said, cryptically, as she squeezed past Lanie, entering her room and sitting down on her bed, checking her PA for any new messages, glancing at her sputtering friend as she did so. Kate couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. Lanie glowers.
"I'ma smack you!" she hissed, before dropping down on the bed. Kate laughed and leaned back, wondering where to start.
By the time she finished telling Lanie the story of her date, proposal, and kiss with Ricahrd Castle—for the third time—it was already past nine AM and the shorter woman's squeals were getting on her nerves.
"Where's your fiancé?" she asked. "I thought Javi was going to come with you."
"He did," Lanie said, nodding, "but I guess he decided to hang out with your mom and dad rather than listen in on our 'girl talk'." She rolled her eyes and Kate laughed, standing up and moving towards her closet.
"Well, all for the better, then," Kate said, "because we still have a few things to pack up and I'd rather Espo not know about my Tweety Bird pajamas."
Lanie barked out a laugh. "He would never let you live that one down! Hell, if I wasn't so blatantly aware that you could kick my ass with your pinkie, I would tease you about it! I mean, damn girl! Tweety Bird is centuries old; can't you get any modern day cartoon characters on your PJ's?" Kate just laughed and shook her head, throwing the offending garments at her friend's head. Lanie grabbed them and tossed them into a nearby moving box. They continued like that for most of Kate's clothes until all that was left was a few dresses, covered by garment bags, and her shoe collection, which they began to stack, in their shoe boxes, into a much larger box. When that was all done, they stripped Kate's bed and placed all her sheets into a laundry basket, to be done at Kate's new home, along with many of the last week's clothes.
By the time every single thing in her room was stripped bare and all of Kate's belongings were boxed up, there was a knock at the door. Kate looked at the clock on her PA. It was a minute past ten. Kate smiled at Lanie and her friend smiled back, motioning for her to go answer the door. Kate did.
Jim was reaching for the knob when Kate approached, shooing him away. "I've got it, Dad," she said, and Jim nodded, going back to the table, where he seemed to have been playing poker with Javier. Kate turned to the mirror next to the door, making sure her hair looked decent, before taking a deep breath and opening the door, grinning as a bouquet of bright, pink Plumerias were shoved toward her. Kate grabbed the flowers, inhaling the sweet floral scent, before looking shyly up at the man who'd supplied them. "Thank you," she said, "they're lovely."
Castle grinned, proudly. "Alexis picked them out," he informed her, "they're for your mother, actually." Kate nodded, smiling as her mother came up behind her.
"Oh, that is so sweet!" Johanna gushed, taking the flowers out of her daughter's hands. "Thank you so much, Mr. Castle! I'll have to put these in some water." She rushed off to do so, leaving Kate standing there, shaking her head at her mother's antics.
"Sorry," she said, looking up at Castle, "my mother can be a little…energetic, sometimes."
Castle shook his head. "No worries," he said, "my mother is the same. Actually, she's probably worse." Kate laughed.
"Guess it's safe to say that they're going to be pretty good friends, then, huh?" Castle nodded, laughing and suddenly, Kate noticed the tray in his hand, with two coffee cups.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "You brought coffee!"
"As I said I would," Castle replied, handing her a cup marked with a 'K'. "Grande skin latte with two pumps of sugar-free vanilla."
Kate's eyes widened at that. "Whoa…how did you know?" she asked, taking the cup he offered into her own hands, inhaling the heavenly scent.
"You mentioned it, yesterday," he said, casually, "may I come in?" Kate nodded, stepping aside as she took a sip, practically moaning as the liquid gold slid down her throat.
"Oh my God, that's good!" she exclaimed. "Where did you get this?"
Castle grinned at her. "I know a guy," he joked, before turning back towards the room, smiling pleasantly at all the occupants. "Hello," he said, "it's nice to meet you all; I'm Kate's fiancé, Rick—"
"Castle!" Javi exclaimed, standing up and practically flying across the room to take the writer's hand in a hearty shake. "Javier Esposito; it's nice to meet you, Man! I'm a big fan of your books."
"Well that's always nice to hear," Castle responded, cordially, "and it's nice to meet you as well. Are you a friend of Kate's?"
Javi nodded. "Yeah, Kate and I go way back; I'm also her friend, Lanie's, fiancé." At the mention of her name, Lanie stepped forward, pushing Javi aside and shaking Castle's hand, excitedly.
"It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Castle," she squeaked. "I'm Kate's best friend, Lanie Parrish. You'll probably be seeing a lot of me."
"Ah, yes," Castle said, "I saw you yesterday, in the park, when Kate ran into me…literally." They shared a laugh at that. "Nice to meet you, Lanie," he said, squeezing her hand before letting go.
Jim was next, standing at about Castle's height. He gave Castle a strong handshake and introduced himself as Kate's father, with the obvious undertone of implied violence if he ever hurt his daughter. They shared a silent understanding, before Jim moved back to stand with Johanna, who was organizing the Plumerias into a vase.
He stood, awkwardly, in the middle of the room for a moment, looking around, sipping his coffee, until suddenly Esposito spoke up.
"Hey, you got her coffee, but you didn't get anything for the rest of us?" he said.
"Javi!" Lanie hissed, smacking his arm. Castle just laughed, though, glad that the silence had been broken.
"Sorry," he said, "but I only promised to serve her; you're going to have to find your own." Kate blushed as everybody else laughed. Castle smiled, kindly, at her. "So," he continued, "I hear we have some boxes to move?"
REVIEWS! Also, if any reviewers have questions, could you please PM them to me. I don't have a lot of time to respond to reviews and I have had reviewers get angry with me about that, but I would rather PM with you if you have and questions you want to ask. Thank you!
