Chapter Eleven
A/N: So I am hoping to get this done within the next few chapters, this has been really fun, and I'm finally getting to the bits and pieces of it that I've had written since I first began this story way back when. Hehe. Yes, I am corny, but this is going to be fun…
"Hey," Ellie greeted her cousin softly. Beckett returned the greeting with an affectionate smile.
"Dork," she retorted playfully, "You have such a way with words…"
"Not everyone can be Richard Castle," Ellie replied smoothly, winking at her cousin's partner. Castle beamed.
"Oh, go ahead, inflate his ego, why don't you?" Beckett answered, rolling her eyes at both of them.
"It'll only take you a couple extra seconds for you to bring it back down, Katie," Ellie retorted in a teasing fashion. Beckett rolled her eyes.
"Ellie, Jared," Kate began, "this is Martha, Alexis and Ashley."
Ellie beamed at Alexis, and waved at Martha and Ashley. Jared responded verbally.
"It's nice to meet you," he said, "I see you've already met my mother."
"Nice to see you again, Alexis," Ellie said.
"Hopefully under less—"Alexis searched for a proper way of responding. Ellie giggled and threw her a bone.
"Loud circumstances?" she offered, "Yeah, I hope so, too."
Beckett looked in between the two of them in shock. Both Ellie and Alexis could not resist giggling.
"I'm sorry," Beckett spoke slowly, "when did you meet Alexis?"
"She…came over to the loft one night," Alexis explained ominously.
"Why?"
"Umm…well…" Castle stumbled, trying to find the right words. He didn't need to, as it turns out. Ellie giggle once more and said something in a language no one understood, except for, presumably, Beckett. Beckett's face contorted in shock. And soon the two were standing toe-to-toe, both with their hands on their hips, half yelling at each other in Russian.
The Castle clan and Ashley watched in amusement as the strong-willed women argued with one another. Castle bumped his shoulder lightly with Jared's.
"Do they always do that?" he asked the other man. Jared chuckled.
"Argue in Russian?" he asked, "Hell, yes. It's their way of keeping secrets while hashing out their issues with one another. You'll get used to it."
"What are their issues now, exactly?" Castle asked. Jared raised an eyebrow, and shook his head.
"Not really sure," he said, "I only understand bits and pieces of Russian, and they are talking way too fast for me to even try.'" He pursed his lips, trying not to smirk, "I do, however, have a theory." Castle looked at him with curiosity.
"Oh, would you shut your trap, J.J.," Beckett's voice interrupted their conversation.
"Like that's possible. Murphy women always fall for talkers," Ellie retorted in a sing-song voice, "You should know that by now."
The words Beckett muttered after this sounded after that statement were in Russian again, though Castle had the strangest feeling they weren't particularly nice words.
The night continued on. The music stopped for a minute as Ellie sang a song dedicated to Jared. Jared made a song for her in turn, one of his own creation that was a big hit during the party.
Castle and Beckett had once again drifted off into a corner by themselves. Alexis and Ashley were either watching or dancing. Martha was busy entertaining a group of handsome middle aged men somehow related to Beckett and Ellie.
After she finished singing, Ellie made her way to the corner of the room to her cousin. She grabbed Beckett's forearm and pulled her into the middle of the room. Beckett was reluctant to follow. Finally, she asked:
"What are you doing?"
Ellie smiled in a terrifyingly mischievous fashion.
"Now, it's your turn," she said cooly. Beckett looked around a moment before she realized what her cousin was talking about.
"No, Ellie. No…" Beckett shook her head vehemently.
"Since when have you been a shy one?"
"Since you invited the people I work with," Beckett retorted.
"Katie, I invited your surrogate family, not some random people you have to keep your guard up for. Live a little; loosen up," she replied reproachfully. Watching her cousin's terror-filled gaze, she added, "For me, Katie. Whatever happened to Helter Skelter?"
Beckett visibly flinched at her high school nickname.
"She grew up."
Ellie rolled her eyes.
"Don't you remember what Aunt Jo's favorite saying? 'Growing old is mandatory. Growing up, however, is optional…"
Beckett glared.
"I hate you so much," she mumbled.
"You love me," Ellie refuted with ease, completely ignoring her cousin's discomfort, "And I love you."
Castle had yet to understand what exactly Ellie was trying to get Beckett to do.
"Yeah, yeah," Beckett responded. Ellie moved towards the DJ and smiled. Upon hearing the intro of the song, Beckett gawked.
"I am so going to kill you," she informed her younger cousin. Ellie merely grinned, propping her hands up on her hips as she began to sing:
"Every single day,
I walk down the street
I hear people say 'baby so sweet,'"
Ellie winked, jumping up on a near table and folding one leg over the other. She leaned towards her fiancé, who was grinning at her. Castle started to laugh.
"Ever since puberty
Everybody stares at me
Boys, girls, I can't help it, baby
She turned around and slung her arms around Jared's neck. He was trying not to laugh, touching her waist lightly.
"So be kind, and don't lose your mind
Just remember that I'm your baby…"
She pushed Jared slightly to the side, and stood with her feet a shoulder-width apart, her arms out and she sang theatrically:
"Take me for what I am
Who I was meant to be
And if you give a damn
Take me, baby
Or leave me…"
"Take me, baby, or leave me…"
"A tiger in a cage
Can never see the sun
This diva needs her stage
Baby, let's have fun
You are the one I choose
Folks would kill to fill your shoes
You love the lime light too now, baby
So be mine, and don't waste my time
Cryin' 'oh, honey bear, are you still my, my, my baby?'"
"Don't you dare," Beckett muttered at her, barely containing her laughter.
"Take me for what I am
Who I was meant to be
And if you give a damn
Take me, baby, or leave me."
"No way, can I be what I'm not
But hey, don't you want your girl hot?
She turned, propping her hands up on her hips and smirking playfully at her cousin. Beckett's brow quirked as Ellie got closer.
"Don't fight, don't lose your head
'Cause every night who's in your bed?"
Ellie laughed, head tipping to one side mischievously, and Beckett got the feeling her cousin was sending her a completely different message than the one actually pertaining to this song.
"Who?
Who's in your bed?"
Sighing, Beckett propped her hands up on her hips and spoke: "It won't work." She walked past Castle and her cousin, shaking her head as she began singing.
"I look before I leap
I love margins and discipline
I make lists in my sleep, baby
What's my sin?
Never quit, I follow through
I hate mess, but I love you
What do with this impromptu baby?
So be wise 'cause this girl satisfies
You got a prize, so don't compromise
You're one lucky baby!"
Castle watched in awe as a whole new side to Kate Beckett emerged. He glanced over at Ellie, who met his eyes briefly and winked again, grinning from ear to ear like the magnificent Cheshire cat she was. Ellie was, in her own way, as extraordinary as her cousin. She was someone's muse as well. But her part was different to him. To Beckett, to the most extraordinary woman he'd ever had the pleasure of looking at, her part was simple: sister. A sister who could provoke his partner's most melodramatic and wondrous tendencies and help her share that part of herself with those who loved her most.
He didn't think it was possible, for Kate Beckett to become even more beautiful in his eyes, but he was wrong. He sat by, watching her laugh and dance and sing with her surrogate sister, carefree and absolutely breath-taking. Alexis was beside him, laughing in amusement as the cousins worked out their own Broadway interpretation of the song.
"Take me for what I am!"
Ellie laughed: "A control freak." Beckett winked at her.
"Who I was meant to be…"
"A snob, yet over attentive," Beckett's cousin said, laughing still.
"And if you give a damn…"
"A loveable droll geek!" Ellie shouted.
"Take me, baby, or leave me."
Together, they sang, moving in sync to opposite sides of the floor, gesticulating dramatically.
"That's it!"
Beckett sang:
"The straw that breaks my back."
Once again, in unison:
"I quit!"
Beckett again:
"Unless you take it back!"
"Women!"
Ellie came over and perched at Castle's side, using his shoulder as an armrest and rolling her eyes as she sang:
"What is it about them?"
Ellie let go, and the two women centered themselves around the table in the middle of the room. They both sang:
"Can't live with them or without them!"
Simultaneously, the two women shot forward and slammed their hands on opposite sides of the table. They sang the chorus at each other, sometimes in a cannon, rather than separately, each seeming to try and force their laughter back down.
"Take me for what I am!"
Beckett first: "Who I was meant to be!"
Then Ellie: "Who I was meant to be…and if you give a damn!"
It was Beckett's turn again, "And if you give a damn you better…take me baby, or leave me!" Ellie countered: "Take me baby, take me or la-la-la-la-la-leave me!"
They finished it together:
"Take me baaaaby-ay, or leave me!"
When they finished, the music stopped and everyone around them clapped. Ellie had collapsed in a fit of laughter, leaving Jared with his hands on her waist, trying to steady her. Beckett caught Castle's eye from across the room, breathless from her performance, and flashed him a brilliant smile. He returned it, but in his eyes, she felt something far more intense. Something that had her scared out of her mind and breathtakingly happy all at once.
Castle…
