'I can't believe we're late!'
'Relax, girl, it's not like we could anticipate that fender-bender tying up traffic for an extra half an hour.'
Kate fussed with her bangs, nervous as a fox in a hen-house. Instead of the pink dress she'd worn the first time she'd wanted to put his blood pressure through the roof, Lanie had all but strong-armed her into buying a floaty coral faux-silk (no way could she afford the real thing) and strappy silver heels. Her jaw dropped clean through the floor when Lanie called the little pink number 'work clothes' - after all hadn't she stated herself she wanted to tease Castle at his job; she'd called the same shenanigans when Beckett wanted to leave her hair straight, too. Tonight, however, before she could so much as open her briefcase, Lanie was on her doorstep with her 'girl tools' as Kate thought of them - hot rollers and a make-up trunk the size of a desk-top computer.
Now in the elevator, Kate fidgeted with her earrings, poked at her cheeks. She was probably the only one who knew since the little pow-wow in the boutique with Honey-Milk and Lanie, Beckett had secretly spent every off the clock night trying on her dress with various combinations of paints and powders, to give her some semblance of fuller cheeks, a soft jawline. After an hour of case revision and note editing, of course - she was still a cop, ans despite the festivities tonight, the real world kept on turning.
Lanie watched her best friend make goldfish-faces in the reflective surface of the elevator wall and snickered. 'I don't think I've ever seen you so twitchy before a date!'
'It's not a date, Lanie. I'm just going to a party for Ryan and Honey-Milk,' Beckett reminded her, a little too hastily before silently adding, He would have to open that enormous mouth of his and ask first.
'Mm-hmm.' Lanie turned away as the elevator doors opened to Castle's floor so Beckett couldn't see her pursing her lips to hold in the grin. It was about damn time her girl got this outwardly nutty about Castle.
They reached the door, and Beckett had to smile at the little poster sitting on the easel; Congratulations Ryan and Honey-Milk! trumpeted cheerily in silver and green letters on a white background, accompanied with a black and white picture of the policeman and his bride. They knocked on the door, and when it was opened by a man in a uniform, they stepped into another world.
'Oh. Oh wow.'
She'd been to Castle's apartment before, when it was the home he shared with his daughter and occasionally his mother. Now it had been transformed into a little fantasy-land: White twinkly lights were strung everywhere, and the air was sweet with some sort of exotic flowers. The furniture had been rearranged to accommodate small round tables for dinner, upon which glinted crystal, silverware, china. On the head table sat the centerpieces Beckett had seen with Martha, with similar arrangements on the guests' tables. In the alcove under the staircase, a DJ booth had been discreetly set up while a partition had been set up to shield the kitchen from the rest of the banquet. On a table by the door sat another beautiful black and white photo of Ryan and Honey-Milk, along with a leather-bound wish-book, complete with a fountain pen; beside the book were several corsages and boutonnieres. Pink and white tulips, Beckett noticed, just like the ones she'd lingered on in the florist's.
She didn't see Ryan or Honey-Milk, they were going to be arriving a little bit later, but she did see Alexis huddled with two other girls her own age. At the bar, the captain and his wife chatted with a young blonde man she didn't recognize while over by the hors d'oeuvres station, she saw Esposito chatting with a bubbling brunette she doubted could even vote. But no Castle. Typical, she thought, always has to...
Her thoughts trailed into a fizzing white static as she saw him come bounding down the stairs, looking dashing and debonair, and -dammit, she was only human - very sexy in his well-tailored black suit. He'd gotten a hair-cut recently and his skin looked healthy and soft like he'd spent the previous day at a California spa instead of with her and Esposito over a murder-suicide in an Alphabet City tenement. He hadn't bothered with a tie, and the shirt, if one looked close enough, was a light pearly rose. Only he could get away with wearing a pink shirt.
He greeted the captain warmly, shaking his hand, and Beckett laughed when he raised Mrs. Montgomery's knuckles to his lips. He glanced toward her and before she could tear her eyes away, he did a double take. Embarrassed to have been caught staring, Kate dropped her eyes down, then grabbed the pen for the wish book like a drowning man grabbing a safety rope. She flipped it open to the blank page and began to scrawl, praying it was legible later.
For Ryan and Jenny, here's to the first of many incredible nights together.
She'd just finished capping the pen when she felt a tug on her wrist. Bracing, she turned and felt the smile come easily to her lips.
'Hi.'
R&R&Enjoy.