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Chapter 10
"So, is Beckett going to be there?" Alexis asked, emphasizing the captain's name with poorly-concealed disdain. Castle's daughter had arrived back in Manhattan the previous evening to attend the book release party, and was clearly still harboring annoyance towards her father and his connection to the cop.
"I invited her but," Castle shook his head, "she's still mad."
"Well, you did dig into her past without her permission," his daughter pointed out as she bent sideways to wriggle one foot into the strappy black heels she'd paired with her strapless magenta dress.
"I see you've been talking to Gram."
"What, you thought I wouldn't find out eventually?" Alexis asked, switching feet.
Castle sighed, focused on tying his tie. "I don't get why everyone is making such a big deal out of this. I was just trying to help."
"Right, in the same reckless way you do most things," his daughter mumbled under her breath.
"What was that?"
"I just think that maybe you should've stayed out of it," Alexis amended, crossing her arms over her chest in that same defiant manner she'd adopted when she was just five years old. "What, taking a bullet for her wasn't enough? You had to stick your nose into her life too?"
"I couldn't not tell her what I found," Castle pointed out. He was getting really sick of defending himself. Even his own family didn't have his back.
Alexis sighed, rolled her eyes. "Men and their excuses."
"It's not an excuse," Castle protested, arranging his tie down the front of his shirt.
His daughter turned to leave the room, long dark hair falling in ringlet curls down her back. "Well, it's not an apology, either."
An apology.
He was so stupid.
Kate hadn't wanted his help, and he could see now how he may have overstepped, especially after she'd made it so clear that she wasn't exactly thrilled about his consistent invasion of her privacy. He'd tried justifying it, tried defending his actions, but the truth was that he messed up.
He'd messed up and he'd never actually said he was sorry.
But he was. He still stood by his decision to tell her what he'd found. It was the right thing to do; he could never have kept it from her. But he was sorry for the pain he'd caused her. Hurting her had never been his intention.
Castle glanced at his watch. The party started in three hours.
Perfect.
The bullpen was quiet. It was 5:30pm on a Friday and most everyone had already left. Kate could've left too. She'd finished her paperwork for the week. But the alternative was going home alone on a Friday night. Again.
She sighed in frustration. She'd never had a problem with being alone. Not until recently.
Not until Castle.
She silently cursed his name. She'd been doing just fine before he came waltzing into her precinct. She shook her head, as though she could jostle the thought out of her brain. He was gone now, just like she'd wanted. She really needed to get over it.
Almost as if on cue, a shadow fell over the room. Kate lifted her head, and there at the door was the man himself. He looked nice, in dress pants and a jacket over a deep red shirt. A rough layer of stubble painted his jaw and his hair was disheveled. It was sexy.
Kate suppressed that thought as quickly as it appeared. Sexy or not, he'd betrayed her.
"I'm sorry," he offered by way of greeting.
She blinked in confusion. "What?"
"I'm sorry," Castle repeated. "What I did was wrong. I opened up old wounds and I didn't respect your privacy. And I know you're mad at me and don't ever want to see me again, but I just want you to know that I'm really, truly sorry."
She didn't respond right away, surprise mingling with numerous other emotions and rendering her tongue useless. Kate could see the defeat in his eyes as the silence stretched, and he finally turned to walk away, completely deflated.
"Castle," she managed at last, voice weaker than normal.
He turned back to her, his expression sullen.
"See you tonight."
His answering smile made her heart flutter.
"It's Nikki Heat!"
The shouts rang out across the room and from all angles, camera bulbs started flashing. Castle turned toward the commotion and his jaw immediately dropped. There, walking down the red carpet (and looking moderately uncomfortable as she did so), was Kate Beckett. In a short, skin-tight, cleavage-baring blue dress.
She looked…wow.
Castle excused himself from his present conversation and began making his way through the crowded room, but found himself being continually interrupted: by his agent, the mayor, autograph-seeking fans. Ordinarily he would've relished all the attention, basked in it.
But right now, he really needed to talk to Beckett.
By the time Castle finally caught up to her, Kate was standing by the book display with one of his novels in her hand and a hard-to-decipher expression on her face.
He couldn't tell if she'd opened it yet. He hoped she hadn't. He wanted to be there when she read his words.
"Hi," he greeted.
Kate whirled around. "Hey."
"You look really nice."
She offered a glimpse of a smile. "Thanks."
"Kind of looks like something Nikki Heat would wear."
"Castle."
He shrugged innocently. Kate rolled her eyes, suppressed a smile.
Castle gestured to the book in her hand, opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.
"I was just, uh," she stammered. "The dedication. Wow. Thank you."
"I meant it," he offered. "You are extraordinary."
Kate lifted her gaze, found his piercing blue eyes staring back at her, full of sincerity. She swallowed hard, averted her eyes. There was too much emotion there; it was written all over his face. Up until a couple hours ago, she'd been furious at him, and now he was looking at her like…
Kate shook her head, pushed the thought away. She wasn't going to go there.
"I should, uh…" she began, not sure what she planned to say. She returned the book to the shelf, took a couple steps back.
"Right," Castle agreed, sensing her discomfort. "I should go schmooze."
They awkwardly went their separate ways, things clearly not quite back to normal between them.
He didn't see her again for the rest of the night.
"So, Beckett made it to the party after all," Martha observed as they finally crossed the threshold of the loft. The party had continued until well after midnight, and initial reviews of Heat Wave suggested it was going to be a smashing success.
Castle nodded.
"And what prompted this sudden change of heart?"
He discarded his jacket on the back of the sofa, busied himself with loosening his tie. "Actually, it was Alexis."
His daughter looked up in confusion. "What?"
"What you said earlier. That it wasn't an apology." He slipped the tie over his head, tossed it on top of his jacket. "You were right. It wasn't."
"Well, I'm glad it all worked out," Alexis answered, doing her best to be happy for her father. She still didn't approve of him gallivanting around pretending to be a cop. But she'd read the book and she had to admit, it was good. Nikki was good. A strong character that people could relate to.
Plus, he was writing again and he was happy. Like he used to be. And despite the fact that she'd moved to LA and made a life for herself, Alexis couldn't deny that she wanted her father back.
If Kate Beckett was the catalyst for this change, then she supposed the least she could do was to give the woman a chance.
Thoughts?
