I return with some more Moving Day. I do apologize but unfortunately First Year University takes priority. So such hig priority that I don't already have a new chapter of Glass Slippers written. Anyways... thanks to my wonderful Beta who is now totally invested in my stories. Hooray!
That's it for now!
Enjoy 3
Beckett entered the precinct, hugging Castle's jacket tighter around her shoulders, and ran to grab her purse before anyone stopped her to ask questions. They may not have been allowed to comment on yesterday's incident, but there was nothing to stop them from commenting on today's little adventures. That was one thing she could say, without doubt, was completely Richard Castle's fault.
Before Rick came into her life, she was never the subject of office rumours. Now, suddenly, she was the only subject of office rumours. At first, it had bothered her because she was still in denial; then it had bothered her because they were true. Now it seemed that he was back to the untruths that circled the precinct; not something she was in the mood to handle.
Shooting a glare at anyone who dared to look her way, she snatched her purse from beside her desk and turned to her other partners to tell them that she would be taking an early lunch… again but when she looked over, she only spotted her quirky Irish partner with his nose buried in a pile of paperwork. She regarded him with an appreciative smile before she approached his desk. "Where's Esposito?"
Ryan didn't look up from his desk, trying his hardest not to smile at the images of a very high Beckett falling out of a tree. "Don't know. He said he was taking an early lunch." She was instantly flooded with a wave of guilt at leaving the Irishman alone to man their station. Still, she really did need a new shirt.
"Oh, well I was going to say I'm…" she wracked her brain, searching for a way to make it up to him "... heading out for a cup of coffee that Castle won't spill on me. You want one?"
He finally looked up at her and smiled brightly. (next line should be up here)"Sure, uh…" He paused, trying to remember the last time anyone had offered to buy him coffee. What could you order to go at basically any coffee shop? "Black?" he asked casually.
With a firm nod, Beckett backed slowly towards the elevator, praying that no one would question her sudden absence for the second time in as many days. If she got back and the rumours were circulating again, she was cutting Castle off for a week.
As she walked into the precinct parking lot, she watched Castle pull up to the curb before jumping out and holding the driver's open for her. Once they were both settled and buckled up, Beckett took off in the direction of the Coroner's Office. At Castle's questioning look she offered him one of her 'duh' stares. "I'm not going shopping without Lanie. She always seems to get me really nice discounts."
"Probably because she threatens to make the cashier one of her patients if he charges you retail," Castle muttered, loud enough to get his point across.
"Nah." Beckett turned the ignition with a smirk. "When she thinks I'm in the change room, she flashes the cashier then claims he must have a crush on me."
Castle wished he had been drinking at least water at the time because then his spit take would have been a little less awkward.
Castle was still trying to figure out how he would ever be able to look at Lanie ever again when the duo pushed open the swinging doors and were face to face with to very un-dead bodies. The bodies of Lanie Parish and Javier Esposito entangled in a very… intimate position; several intimate positions. Too stunned to do anything but watch, Castle was surprisingly the first to react several moments later when he cleared his throat pointedly and covered his eyes and the pair on the examining table scrambled apart, readjusting clothing that had come… unadjusted.
"Kate!"
"Castle!"
"Castle?"
"Beckett!"
Their two friends stammered profusely as they refused to make eye contact with anything or anyone else. Too stunned to form a complete sentence, Beckett blinked several times before glancing back and forth, pointing and gaping with a mix of astonishment, betrayal, and relief. Beckett and Castle both knew that Lanie and Esposito still had feelings for each other; but it was one thing to carry a torch, it was another to ignite the flames and watch the entire foundation burn. She was glad that they had obviously come to some sort of realization, but Lanie was still married and it was still wrong. Lanie, having finally regained at least some of her composure, was eager to change the subject and so turned the tables on her friends.
"What are you two doing here? I don't have anything for you." She spoke as calmly as possible though she knew it was useless. God, she gets caught up in one moment of passion with her former lover and they almost end up naked on an examination table with their friends watching for God knows how long. Not her favourite moment.
"We-uh-I…" Beckett's eyes were still impossibly wide at the view she had been given of Javier in most – if not all – of his glory, suddenly flashing back to yesterday with her and Rick in the interrogation room. Had this been what Ryan and Esposito felt? That feeling where you would be turned on if it wasn't for your brother or sister starring in the porno you were witnessing; it was not a pleasant feeling – at all. She would definitely have to make it up to them later - if she could remember what Lanie had asked her. "I-um…"
"Kate wants to take you shopping during your lunch break and I tagged along to offer my credit card," Castle finally offered, sensing Beckett's conflicting emotions. He guessed they were similar to his, but in a way he was more used to it. He had walked in on his mother and her latest beau often enough that what Lanie and his brother were doing was nothing he hadn't seen before. Of course the moral implications of what they had been doing were different and he knew that they needed to be addressed; but not right now, and certainly not in this setting, where he would never be able to look at Lanie in the same way. Not after everything he had seen and heard of her in the last ten minutes.
"Oh;" Lanie self-consciously adjusted her top as she hazarded a glance at her friend. Beckett looked back with a greater sense of relief at the opportunity to slip away from the situation. "I'll go grab my coat, then." No one had really looked at Esposito until he suddenly spoke up.
"I should be heading back to the precinct anyway."
Castle held out a friendly hand to stop him before turning to his fiancée. "Here." He dug into his back pocket, producing a small black leather wallet, and tossed it across the office to her. "Just take my card and you can make it up to me later." His tone was light but the moment he said it, everyone in the room winced subtly at the implications of his phrasing. "You can make dinner." he offered in compromise.
With a small nod of her head, Beckett turned, hooked her arm into Lanie's and pushed through the doors. The moment the elevator dinged, indicating their departure, Castle turned to Esposito, causing the Hispanic detective to jump. "What the hell were you doing?"
"Well, I, uh…"
"Lanie is married now, you can't just-"
"She and Colin are getting a divorce," Esposito suddenly blurted, the heat once again rising to his cheeks.
It was odd to see the normally tough, aggressive detective suddenly very shy and quiet, but Castle had never seen Esposito more in love with anyone than when he looked at Lanie. Personally, he had always been rooting for the couple to get back together; but after Lanie had gotten married to someone else, he had all but given up hope. Now he'd seen them doing… that and he hears… this. It was a lot to take in.
"What?" He paused. "Since when? I thought they were having a baby together." Castle paled as Esposito reached up to scratch his neck nervously.
"About that ..."
"Oh, tell me you didn't." Castle ran a hand through his hair as he began to pace around the room, which seemed to be slowly shrinking.
"I didn't mean for it to happen," he heard his friend insist, though he refused to face the detective. "I just…" Castle looked up at the crack in the man's voice. "I still love her and I had to have her, even if it was just for a while."
Castle softened at Esposito's sincerity. "If you still love her, why did you guys break up?"
"We kept fighting over all his old girlfriends."
Both men turned to see the object of their discussion with shining, confused eyes.
"I thought he was only in it for the sex." Lanie's eyes never left Esposito's. "I never stopped loving you; I just couldn't take the heartbreak." When she caught Castle's questioning gaze out of the corner of her eye, she almost smiled. "I forgot my jacket." She shrugged.
"Lanie, I…" Esposito was at a complete loss for words.
"I-I'm gonna head out," Castle whispered, not wanting to break the air between them. Without acknowledgement, he slipped out of the morgue and down the hall, where his fiancée patiently waited for her friend at the elevators . When the wrong person exited the morgue, she grew curious.
"What's up?" She turned to stand side-by-side with him as he pressed the elevator button.
"We're going shopping," he stated firmly, the slightest hint of a smile tugging his lips.
Knowing better than to question his statement, Beckett nodded slowly and moved into the elevator car, shrugging out of his coat as the door closed.
The journey to Wal-Mart – Kate was driving and there was no way she would walk into an actual clothing store with her shirt looking as it did – was sluggishly quiet. She wanted desperately to ask what had happened in the morgue, but it seemed Castle didn't want to talk about it. Desperate for a topic to break the silence, she kept her eyes on the road.
"So, how's Alexis? I haven't seen her since the… uh… incident." Maybe bringing up their disgusting display of affection a few days earlier was not the best topic, but she truly was desperate. Rick either didn't know what she was talking about, or he simply wasn't embarrassed about it.
"She's been busy with school," he replied. "Not to mention the fact that you were a little out of it the past few days. She said she might be home for dinner tonight, so barring any sudden changes in your mood, you should see her tonight."
Oh that was nice-wait. What did he mean changes in her mood?
"What do you mean by that?" She accused, suddenly defensive as they entered the shopping mall. "Are you saying I'm emotional?"
"No, no, no," Rick backtracked, having put his foot in his mouth often enough to know the taste instantly. "I'm just saying that if nothing comes up at work, we should be home in time to have dinner with Alexis."
Oh, he is not going to get away with that. "So I'm emotional and a workaholic. Gee, Rick, you're doing really well in the 'sex' column. At this rate, you might get laid sometime next month. Or am I not the only one helping you out in that department?" She snapped as a perky little blonde woman flashed him a flirtatious smile as he happened to look in that direction. Why was she getting so upset?
Who cared, she was on a roll.
"Hey that was uncalled for!" he protested. "I would never cheat on you."
"Are you trying to insinuate something, Castle?"
Their challenging stance in the middle of the cards section was beginning to attract a few stares but not enough for it to be called a scene.
"No, I'm not. I know you wouldn't, either; I'm just curious as to where this is all coming from. What have I done recently to make you doubt my loyalty? Or is it that you're looking for an excuse to get out?" He didn't mean to say it, he really didn't; he was just so confused by her reaction to a simple statement like 'my daughter is at school'.
He watched her expression shift from shock, to hurt, to anger before settling on quiet fury; the worst kind. "Maybe I am."
With that, she stormed across the aisle to where women's clothing was, grabbed a plain white t-shirt from a pile in the sales rack, and slunk into the express check-out line; all before Rick could even move.
Had she really just said that?