Wrote this one in a blur. I honestly don't even remember putting most of it down, though the words are familar.
He didn't know if he should laugh, cry or scream. Kate Beckett drove him insane.
She knew.
She. Knew.
She'd known all along. For almost 3 weeks.
He snatched his keys and left her sitting at the counter to brew on the mess she'd made with her denial.
His heart hurt.
His mind was spinning and he let his tires follow suit.
It didn't take him long to find his way back to the bar. It didn't take him much longer to plow through three fingers of a perfectly aged scotch.
George and Castle both realized, at the same point in a rambling conversation, that Castle probably should have eaten something. It didn't stop him from having another, though George did push a menu and a dish of pretzels his way.
"What's bothering you so badly?" George asked. Castle stared at him blankly, trying to plot some story he could feed his friend. But nothing he could conjure up seemed fitting for the occasion.
"Women," he finally provided with a sigh.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I just can't get a handle on this one."
"She must be something special, I haven't seen you this intent on self-destruction since you killed off Storm. Of course, when you came in that time, you wouldn't give me the whole truth either."
"That is the truth," Rick mustered.
"She got a boyfriend then?" George asked. His friend had hit close enough to the truth. Closing his eyes, he nodded and threw himself off balance. His eyes snapped open and he put his hands down on the bar subtly to regain his equilibrium. "You think he knows where you are?" The motion hadn't been lost on the bartender. His friend was done.
"Why?"
"I'm fairly sure someone followed you in." He motioned carefully, with the cover of wiping down a section of the bar. A glance into the mirror behind the bar and Castle found himself quite sober. The man was definitely watching him and he'd caught a glance of him doing it twice already. Castle had assumed it was simply a fan, but watching him now, Kate's safety made him question the man's real motives.
Castle caught the gaze of his friend. "Bring me a credit card slip," Rick quietly asked, while handing over his credit card, "And please, trust me on this one."
George dipped away, and returned with a slip of paper. Castle quickly jotted a few numbers down and beside it wrote Ryan.
"You want a cab?"
"No, I'm gonna walk." He told him curtly, "Just tell your brother why I left early." Castle tapped his finger on the name and number he'd scrawled on the signature slip. "And that I'll catch up with them later."
It didn't surprise George when the man who'd come in just after Castle drained his drink, threw a few bills down and followed him out.
What did was the prompt answer from a man named Ryan after he'd dialed in the digits.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm not sure. I was told to call you and tell you that he left early because someone had followed him in."
"Castle?" Ryan asked, and George could hear the rustle of papers. "What exactly happened and where did he go?"
"Someone followed him in and out of my bar. Rick's a friend of mine. When he left, he gave me your number. Told me to tell you he had to leave early because of the tail and he would catch up with them later. I feel like I should call the police," George worried quietly, tucked off to the side of the bar away from prying eyes and ears of his customers.
"You already did. Thanks," The line clicked out as Ryan disconnected. His fingers already flying over the numbers for Jake's temporary line to report, "Castle's got a tail."
He stumbled home. Thankful his place was only a few blocks off the shore line bar he frequentlyed went to on his visits. He wasn't stupid. The guy had followed him out and down the streets.
Castle let out a sigh of relief when the key slid into the lock and turned. Throwing the dead bolt and sliding a low dresser from the hall in front of the door. The backdoor was treated the same as he set the alarm and hurried up the stairs.
It was as he was safely enclosed in the interior bathroom that he dialed the station from his regular phone. They'd set forth very strict rules about using the disposable phone if there was a chance the cover had been blown. So as not to risk having someone trace his false line and the locations it had been used, he was to only use his real line now and could not contact any of the disposable lines directly. He'd hoped the message he'd left with George had been received clearly, but he couldn't risk that it may not have.
"Castle? What happened?" Ryan sounded relieved to hear from him.
"Someone tailed me in town. I'm at my place. I didn't go back to them. I have no idea if they're okay. Do something," he groaned.
"I've already called them, they're both fine, no activity nearby."
"That's a relief."
"Beckett was pissed though."
"What did she say?"
"Nothing I'm going to repeat," Ryan laughed.
"What's the plan?"
"You have to stick it out there, it will look suspicious if you leave immediately. Stay and talk to the guys from construction, we'll get someone in unmarked. Then after you hash out the remodel, you can head back into the city."
"What about Jake and Kate?"
"As long as they're not disclosed, they're okay there. Don't blow their location. Go back for nothing."
"Fine," Castle agreed before they ended the conversation.
He hadn't slept well. He'd locked himself in one of the tiny rooms in the finished third story of the house. It had originally been staffing quarters when the house had been built. He'd turned it into a little hideaway with its miniature kitchen, and a single shower stall with a toilet. He never came up here, though his plan had been originally to use the space to hull up when he was writing.
Every creak and squeak of the roof and concealed beams left him certain he was about to be killed. Consequently he couldn't help but think of her.
And of the mess and implications looming around the two of them.
He liked to think she returned his feelings. He'd pulled her pigtails, held her as they nearly froze, and kissed her in a dangerous alleyway. Becks had been right there with him when she wasn't leading the way.
They'd taken a stand together. He'd held her when she cried. He'd held her so she lived.
Beckett had, to the best of Castle's knowledge, told her boyfriend he was no longer part of her life. That gave him hope.
But none of those things mattered, because of what she'd ignored.
She'd ignored his words for the last few weeks.
And that said a lot more than he wanted to accept.
Kate was angry.
While the entire world took part of the blame, the majority of it belonged to Castle.
Lying in bed, she wasn't sure what pissed her off more.
The fact that he'd insisted they come here so he could pick up a tail in town or the fact that he'd declared love.
"What is wrong with me?" Kate uttered to the ceiling.
But she already knew.
She'd known in the freezer, she even tried to tell him, thinking they were dying. She'd known when her body, and heart, had caved and kissed him back with abandon.
She'd known when she called Josh and told him he didn't matter to her anymore.
It had weighed heavily on her when they'd parted ways the night the four of them had discussed Montgomery's death. Somehow she'd been brave enough to generalize it for the large group of mourners, but the courage had been short lived when she realized he felt the same.
That made it a whole different game.
She loved Castle. Rick, Edgar, Richard, Alexander. Castle. But it sure didn't mean the psychic had predicted it.