A/N: First, thank you all so much for your kind reviews! I really appreciate all of them! Second, this is my favorite chapter so far in this story. Enjoy!


Nine

Tuesday morning, Kate arrived at Castle's loft just in time to meet his mother Martha in the doorway. The two women exchanged pleasant greetings before Martha let her inside, informing Kate that her son was at his desk, but she could not stick around because rehearsals were waiting for her. Kate waved goodbye and then headed towards the office, where the writer was busily tapping away at his laptop keyboard.

"Well isn't this a pleasant sight," she smiled. "Working hard?"

"Always," he responded, grinning at her over the top of his computer screen.

"More like rarely," she corrected.

He shrugged. "Did you see my mother out there?"

"Yes, she just left."

"Oh good," he smiled. He shut the screen on his laptop and walked around to her side of the desk, leaning against the corner and resting his hands against the edge on either side of his hips. "I actually have a question before we get started. If you don't mind? I'm looking for a woman's opinion."

Kate arched one eyebrow, intrigued. "Oh?"

"Yes. Mother's birthday is coming up and I'm never sure what to get her. She's really difficult to buy for—super picky—so I thought I might run my idea for her by you first and get your opinion."

Kate let out a breathy blip of almost laughter. "Me? You mean, since I know her so well…having spent a collective eight minutes in her presence."

"No, I know," he said, holding up one hand. "But this is more of a general question. What do you, as a woman, think about scented candles? Particularly those that unleash the goddess within."

Kate's jaw dropped and she stared at him, unmoving. How did he….how could he possibly…? No. There was no way. There was simply no way. But he was smirking. Smirking that god-awful smirk that made her want to slap him. A few incoherent noises escaped her lips before she managed a "How…?"

He beamed. "Google."

"Bu-but…how!?" She repeated.

"Simple. I Googled his name, one of her videos came up and that led me to her website. She mentioned a son named Paul and, well, she kind of looks like him I guess. But that's her, right? The candle goddess is Paul's mother?"

"Yes."

Castle laughed equally as hard as he had the night before. "She's a wacko!"

"Yes," Kate concluded, sitting down slowly in the seat nearest to his desk. She ran her fingers over her forehead; she could already tell this was going to be a long day.

"I mean, she's crazy—she seems crazy," he continued. "Is she legit? Like, does she really believe in that stuff?"

Kate widened her eyes momentarily; he didn't know the half of it. "Oh my, yes."

"Oh my god," he chuckled. "Just think… I know you're not getting married, but if you were…" He let his voice drift off as laughter took over.

Kate stiffened and sat a bit taller in her seat. "So what? If we would get married, I'd be marrying Paul not his mother."

"Mmm, no. That is extremely incorrect," he said with the wisdom only a twice-divorced man could possess. "You marry a family as fortunate or unfortunate as that may be. Oh man, you should have seen Gina's mom—I think she actually had horns!"

"Well," she said with a slightly snippy edge. "You're one to talk. Your mother isn't exactly boring."

"No, she's not," he conceded. "She's crazy, but she stays safely in the realm of kooky and eccentric—artsy. The candle lady is straight up crazy town. Is her name really Lavender?"

"No," she said with an air of exasperation. "It's Joyce. Lavender is the name she uses on the internet."

"Oh, so she has something in common with all those amateur porn stars—fantastic."

She glared at him. "No, because Lavender sounds more…candle-y."

"Riiiiight," he chuckled. "So what do your parents think of her? Have they met?"

Kate fought the urge to shudder at the recollection of the Thanksgiving dinner from hell. "Yes."

Scooting towards the edge of the desk a bit further, Castle inquired, "And?"

"That," she said pointedly, "is not really any of your business."

"Oh so they hated her? Perfect." He deduced.

Kate grumbled. "Let's just say they're not going to become best friends, okay? Though, to be entirely honest, they mostly hated her boyfriend and the fact that two minutes in his presence gives you a contact high."

"What?!" Castle blurted out, his laughter returning. "No way! There's a boyfriend?"

Kate shook her head and shut her eyes with self-loathing. "Why am I telling you this?"

"Because it's the best story ever!" He proclaimed. "What's the boyfriend's name?"

Kate stared at him for a moment, chewing on the inside of her lower lip. "I don't want to tell you."

"Why? What is it? C'mon—tell me!" he said, bouncing up and down with anticipation like a child waiting for a new toy.

She closed her eyes. "Bobby-Joe; his name is Bobby-Joe."

"No it's not!" Barely able to contain his fits of laughter, Castle was practically doubled over with his hands resting on his knees for support. "You're making that up!"

Kate laughed, though it was mostly from the sight of Castle's pure amusement. "I'm not; I swear. He was born Robert Joseph, but ever since he was a kid people called him Bobby-Joe."

"Oh god. That's classic," Castle said, wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of his left eye. "Where'd she meet him?"

Kate shrugged. "Who knows? I mean truly I don't. All I know is that Paul's father died when he was twelve. His mom began dating Bobby-Joe when Paul went to college. Evidently, they have a lot in common. He's…fairly into nature and holistic-type things."

"And cannabis, I take it."

"That too."

"So…he's a bit of a hippy?" Castle guessed.

Kate blurted out a loud laugh. "Yeah. Yeah he's a bit of a hippie like the Pope is a bit Catholic."

Castle nearly fell to the floor with laughter. "Oh my god, this is awesome! I want to meet these people!"

"No trust me," Kate insisted, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ears. "You don't."

"Do they live in the city?"

"God no," she responded immediately. Castle eyed her curiously. "Paul's actually from central Pennsylvania. They live in some remote area in the woods-"

"Of course," he chimed in

"-and they…they actually do a lot with the Renaissance circuit," she concluded with a cringe.

"Naturally." He nodded as though that were the most regular thing in the word. "Does she sell her goddess candles there?"

"Yes, and they have a food stand."

That time, Castle was so excited he actually stood from his seat. "Ooooh! Do they sell magic brownies?! Please, please god tell me they sell magic brownies!"

She laughed at his enthusiasm. "No, sorry. They sell Scottish eggs."

His brow furrowed. "What the hell are those?"

"Hardboiled eggs wrapped in sausage and deep fried."

"AWESOME!"

She cringed. "Yeah…it's something alright."

"And I presume since it's a Renaissance fair they dress in costume while doing all this?" He questioned. She nodded. "This is incredible. Do you have pictures?"

She shook her head. "No, we've never been to their food stand."

"Why the hell not? I want to go and I'm not even quasi-related to them!"

She rolled her eyes. "We just…we haven't gone. The timing hasn't worked out. They only started the food stand last summer and both Paul and I were teaching almost full time. And this summer with the move and everything—it's just too much."

"Plus, you don't actually want to go," he added. She pressed her lips together and said nothing. "So what does Paul think of all this?"

"Wha-I…I shouldn't have told you any of this." She shook her head, disappointed in herself. How had she told him all this? Typically, she was tight lipped about her opinion on Paul's illustrious mother due to the fact that it was a touchy subject with him. But somehow—and she didn't quite know how—Castle had her revealing everything.

"Does he have mommy issues?" Castle asked, ignoring her comment.

"I'm not answering that."

"So that means yes," he deduced. She gave him a look. "Does he visit her a lot?"

"Well, he'd probably visit more if it wasn't for the pot farm in their basement."

"Stop it," Castle laughed. "What are talking here? A few plants and a light? A few lights? More than five lights? Jesus, how many plants are there?!" He upped his guesses each time he saw her bite her lip harder.

"Let's just leave it at 'a lot.'"

"Like…the government is going to get me because pot is still illegal in Pennsylvania a lot?"

Kate shut her eyes and inhaled then exhaled sharply. "The last time we were there, which was about two years ago for Christmas, Paul and I got into a big fight because once I saw…the basement I told him I would never go back there and we most certainly would never be staying overnight there again."

He nodded knowingly. "Because you're afraid of a raid by the DEA."

"Castle! This isn't funny!" she snapped.

He attempted to suppress his giggles, though that only worked minimally. "I'm sorry. You're right; it's not funny. I mean, it's really, really funny, but I would not think it was funny if I was you and I certainly would not permit Alexis to go into such an environment. So…Paul is ok with the pot farm?"

"Not really, but every time it comes up he goes, 'Yeah, but she's my mother,'" Kate said, imitating Paul's tone.

"Ah…" He was silent for a moment before he said carefully, "Just one more question. I promise." She gazed at him obviously annoyed, but did nothing to stop him. "Have you… ever smoked pot?"

"No!"

"Kaaate," he said in a sing-song leading way. "C'mon. It's me. You can tell me. I have."

"Really?" she asked, her tone sounding more even than surprised.

He nodded. "Boarding school; it's what you did."

"And?"

"Eh," he shrugged. "Smoked it a few times in college; never really saw the point in continuing. Your turn."

"Honestly—I never smoked it. I smoked one cigarette in high school—well, specifically about one third of one cigarette and that was the end for me," she informed him.

"Okay…but have you ever had a pot brownie?" he asked. Her lips flattened together and he laughed proudly. "You have!"

"It was only once!"

"That's what they all say," he laughed. "Was it from Paul's mom?" She gave him a look that clearly said "who else?" "Did you know what it was?"

"I didn't…not know," she said carefully. "I kind of figured, but it was like peer pressure! I had to try one!"

An endlessly amused smile crossed his lips. "And?"

"It was awful. I mean it legitimately tasted awful. Paul's mom is a dreadful baker—with or without special additives."

"Oh Kate," he sighed. He walked back around to his desk chair and sat down, smiling. "I think this conversation made my week. It may have even made my month."

"I'm so glad you enjoyed it." Though her tone indicated annoyance, she wore a smile on her face. "Can we work on your story now? Did you finish your outline?"

"Kinda."

"Castle."

"What? It's hard!" he whined.

"It's your job," she countered. He merely shrugged. "Will you at least tell me where the title Code Cracker came from?"

"Ah!" he grinned. "You know the article that Professor Kaitlyn published? Well, unbeknownst to her, there was actually a series of codes within that article sending secret messages to the Illuminati and-"

"The Illuminati!? Castle!" Kate groaned.

"Okay not actually the Illuminati, but a group like them." He insisted as though that made it a completely legitimate storyline. "Agent Alex doesn't know what the code is, but he knows it's there and he has to crack it and a few other codes he finds—they all go together—in order to thwart an international threat of terrorism."

"So where are the other codes?"

"Dunno yet."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Castle…"

"What? I'm working through it—this is all part of my process. What I do know is that one code will be in Greek and the other in Italian."

"Which is why Agent Alex needs the processor with him; she's fluent in both," Kate concluded. Castle smiled at her. "Alright, Castle; I'm still intrigued. Where's chapter four?"

"I didn't write it yet," he informed her, "but I did make a few tweaks to one through three to fit with the rest of the story, so you can review them."

"And then?"

He gave her a patient smile. "Genius takes time, Professor."

Kate simply rolled her eyes.