Then and Now by Oldest Man

Chapter 14

Since it's taken me a while to dig my story out of a hole I'd written it into, here are some refresher quotes:

"Give me one good reason why I should help you? He's my client and my friend. You thought we were humping like bunnies and all he was doing was trying to set up 'safe havens' for you, his ex-wife and his daughter so that Estate Tax wouldn't leave you penniless if something happened to him."

'Ex-wife? Why would he even care what became of Meredith?' Kate thought.

"Okay, I was wrong to accuse you of – "

"You thought he was shacking up with Meredith when he was out on the West Coast and using the movie as a cover but – you know what? Figure it out. Meredith's dead. Figure it out."

And Castle's still on the train where I left him:

Amtrak

New York to Washington

Rick dozed fitfully, his half-awake dreams fluttering through his mind. He didn't look forward to the conversation with his father. It was hard enough talking about leaving his life behind him and starting over knowing that he might never again see the man he'd grown to respect, admire and love as his father.

Remember, all times are contemporaneous unless indicated.

Reagan Int'l Airport
Shuttle Airways Terminal

Fr. Alexander Richards stood waiting for his former and hopefully, soon to be again, daughter-in-law's King Air 10 to finish its taxi-run to the terminal entrance and shut down its twin turboprops. He fully intended to make this meeting pleasant but brief as they had less than 90 minutes to plan a course of action that would bring his son back to his wife.

The pilot lowered the door with built-in steps and deplaned and offered a hand to a tall, slim woman who looked like she belonged at a photo shoot rather than an airport. She was wearing a tailored suit and heels and carried a large shoulder bag.

She walked into the terminal like a jungle cat on the prowl for prey. Her glanced passed over him as she looked for an older man who said he'd meet her.

'Tardiness must be a genetic trait amongst Rick's forebears', Kate thought as she glanced at her father's watch and sighed.

"Katherine?" The tall man walked over to her and she was shocked, although it took quite a bit of control not to show it, that the man who addressed her was a Catholic priest!

"You're Castle's father?", she asked with a mixture of scorn and disbelief.

"Father Alexander Richards, but I'd prefer it if you would simply call me Alec. The 'collar' won't come between us, will it, Katherine?"

"N-No, no it won't. I'm just – surprised is all. From our conversation, I figured you were a retired college professor not a – a priest!"

"Actually, it's 'Bishop' Richards, but I've retired and the title remains as an honorific only, and I do lecture at the Georgetown now and again. Now, enough of these opening moves, what are we going to do to prevent my son from ruining the rest of his life?"

The older man was definitely Castle's father, of that Kate had no doubt. The resemblance, the way he carried himself, some of his mannerisms, were clearly shared by father and son.

"I think the best thing is for us to confront him with a fait accompli, me being there, and you graciously excusing yourself and then allowing me to throw myself at his feet and grovel and beg forgiveness. I think that should work."

"He'd walk away at the first sign of groveling, Katherine. He knows you too well. You, his 'amazing Kate', would never grovel or beg."

"Well, this time 'his amazing Kate' has too much to lose to pride and being stubborn and unyielding and obstinate."

The older man sighed, ran his hands over his hair, another trait he and his son shared, tonsorial rearrangement when frustrated.

"Kate, you have to meet him on equal terms. He still loves you. He never stopped loving you. The fact that he divested himself of almost everything when he clearly would have prevailed in court is proof of that. Now, my car is just outside. I suggest we get moving. He'll go to the hotel first as is his habit. That should be your ambush site."

"Fath – er, Alec, I'm not going to ambush him. I simply need to talk with him in a non-threatening environment, lay out my perceptions, my errors, find common ground, and build on it. Then, if my hopes are realized, WE, he and I, will drop by in the morning to ask you to marry us again."

"Oh. That would be an interesting situation. A Father-'Father' marrying his son. A first since early church history, I'm sure. Richard would write an entire novel around that scene."

They both laughed as they walked out to the car. Castle could write a novel about it and turn it into a mystery bestseller in the bargain.

Union Station
Washington DC

Castle stepped off the Amtrak coach and looked around to see if his father had changed his mind at decided to meet him after all but saw no sign of the tall man. It was just as well. He wasn't in the mood for a father-son talk at the moment. He was still thinking through the dreams he'd had on the train.

And his thoughts were dark and full of despair.

He made his way through the large lobby and marveled once again at the architecture and murals. Unless the politicos got a bug up their butts and decided to 'build something modern' the station would stand for another hundred years.

Castle caught a cab to his hotel, actually a motel that featured suites, and laughed to him self. The days of taking cabs and calling for a car service were over until he penned another bodice-ripper under the nom de plume of Alexandra Rich and began getting fat checks again. He laughed again when he thought back to the meeting with Shelby Turner.

"You're Alexandra Rich? You wrote Love on the Rocks, Monica and Monaco?" She secretly read romance novels and Alexandra Rich wrote the most steamy sex scenes without ever referring to an anatomical area by its correct name. She almost always smiled when she thought about 'soft mounds with turgid peaks' and 'muscles gripping and caressing his pulsing –'

"Yep. That's where most of this money came from. Amazing what you can do with a Thesaurus and a little bit of imagination. I always hired an older actress to attend the readings and signings. That's her picture on the back of each book. The bio is so much BS and the picture's been – enhanced somewhat."

Between the traffic and a detour it took almost an hour to reach his motel suite. He checked in ("It's good to have you with us again, Mr. Castle. Your suite is ready, of course.") and trudged wearily to the elevator.

The clerk waited until Rick had gotten on the elevator before calling his room.

"Ma'am, he's on his way up. He looks really tired. I hope the surprise you have for him isn't too much for him. I mean he looks exhausted." He was $200 richer for his trouble.

Suite 406

Castle swiped the key card and the door lock released and he opened the door to a softly lit room smelling faintly of cherries.

He cursed and almost backed out. He didn't need the reminder. He didn't need a scent to keep her in his mind. He didn't need –

"Rick, I'm sorry." The words were spoken softly so as not to startle him but he still reacted as if physically struck.

He looked down at the floor and turned to leave. "Yeah, I know. Look, I have to see someone. Lock the door when you leave."

"Your dad met me at the airport. He knows I'm here and that we're going to be late."

"We?" He looked at her, through her, actually.

"Yes. We. No more secrets. No more broken hearts because you couldn't break your word. You kept your word to all of them. You only broke your word once, and that was to me."

"I never broke my pledge to you. Never!" He was so tired and angry and so tired of being angry.

"You promised me, in a damned Church, Rick. You vowed to love me and care for me as long as we both lived. You took me with all my faults and my strengths as I did you."

"Yeah, I was there. I remember. I never stopped being in love with you." There was no sarcasm in his words, just resignation.

"I promised to help you when you needed help, and I would turn to you when I needed help. I chose you as the person with whom I would spend my life. We exchanged those vows but somewhere along the way I forgot mine. I'm sorry."

Castle seemed to consider her statement and finally looked out the large window of the suite.

"You acted in the way you were raised and trained, as the situation warranted. I don't blame you, Kate. If you think I do, then you're wrong. But I forgive you for anything you feel the need to be forgiven for."

"Josh. I need you to forgive me for Josh."

She looked at him with tear-filled eyes but refused to shed them. It would only add to the tension in an already tense situation. She knew her husband. He had one foot out the door mentally already.

Rick looked up in surprised confusion. Josh?

"Josh? I don't understand. Lanie was drunk and went on about you and Josh but I thought that was before – oh. Okay. After you filed and stood Lanie up at the Radisson. We went in to the Oak Room and had a few drinks."

"It was a stupid and childish thing to do. I wanted to hurt you but I only hurt myself. I didn't even enjoy it. I enjoyed the thought that it would hurt you but not the act itself. The next day I was so disgusted with myself – "

"You're forgiven. I really have to talk to my dad. I have some things I need – advice on. He's been pretty good about keeping me on the right path since before the separation. And then I have to get going."

"I want us back together, Rick. I want to get married again. I've never stopped loving you. If anything, I love you more than before the divorce. You went through Hell with me when I was shot and all you asked was that I – "

"I don't want to get married, Kate. I'm done with marriage. I screw it up every time. I lost Meredith because I wasn't enough of a man for her. I lost Gina for much the same reason. I lost you because I didn't have the courage to let you live the life you'd chosen because I was afraid you'd die. No more marriages."

"I quit the department. I'm just waiting for the paperwork to catch up with me. I'm done being a target and I'm ready to start being a wife and a mother."

"You quit? Why? You love your job. It's what makes Beckett 'Beckett'."

"I'd rather be a Castle. I made a mistake and now I'm fixing it. Marry me again, Rick. I promise I won't screw it up. I promise to be there like I should have been. I shouldn't have allowed you to carry those burdens alone. I should have figured out early on what was happening. I'm a detective and I was good at my job. I just never applied it to my marriage to 'detect' what was wrong."

"Did you deliberately fail the Lieutenant's Exam?"

"No! I – I choked, okay? I wanted to pass it but I choked. There was so much riding on it, our future, and I think it was the beginning of our problems."

"No, it was just another thing to break us."

"We're not broken, damn it, Castle! We're just bent. Not broken. Not if you just can just put the last 3 months behind us and marry me again. It'll be better this time, I promise."

One, maybe two chapters remain.

OM