The girl was singing. Well, actually humming but it had a nice vibrato to it like from someone that could sing. The little wavering of the notes made the humming soulful. The girl seemed happy and and in her flower dress Rick gathered the impression she was going to church soon.
The little girl seemed happy. She was beautiful. She had hazel eyes that just popped out grabbed his attention. So much life in her. Her hair a wavy brown with sharp red accents and a smile that was its own reward. She looked down and began toeing the ground.
There wasn't a ground here but the motion was the same.
"My brother seems nice." She said.
Her humming continued.
Castle responded, "Yeah, he's a good kid."
He didn't know why be he just said it.
"Dad? Do you love me?"
He melted. "Of course sweetie." He paused for a moment. He wanted to say more. "Me, your mother and brother."
"Is that it?" The girl asked innocently.
"There's lots of people that love you. Grandma and Uncle Ryan and Esposito. Your teachers."
"God?" She surprised him with that one.
"Of course."
She danced in place for a few moments before stopping suddenly.
She looked to her right off into the distance of the place they were in.
"It's time to get up, Rick."
"Wait! What's your name?"
The girl froze. Motionless like a department store mannequin before evaporating into the void.
(*&
"Rick!" Kate was shaking him a little harder now.
"It's time to get up."
He finally opened his eyes and first saw Kate's locks and brown hair caught in the sun streaming through. A touch of red prominent, followed by an occasional blonde hair.
His memory of the girl still fresh, his eyes fixed on Kate's hair. His consciousness in the gray fog between slumber and present he muttered "What's your name?"
"What?" Kate's tone was a mix of disbelief and I'm-gonna-kill-you.
His eyes opened and the adjustment of reality hit his brain making slightly dizzy before he finally realized what was going on.
Uh oh.
"Kate? Oh god wait… hold on." Waking up wasn't his strongest attribute. In the Marine's he had gotten in trouble because of it and his discipline to get past it had faded so sleepy head Rick was just another person he had to deal with sometimes.
"Tell me you're kidding right now."
She sat up from being in the crook of his arm and he saw her naked and quickly forgot what they were talking about.
Noticing his lack of speech and her own vulnerable state she quickly covered herself with the blankets, leaving him exposed. With morning wood.
He covered himself with his hands, it not being enough, grabbed the pillow he slept on and covered his sexual salute.
Not knowing what to say next he tried to explain. "I was dreaming. Gimme a second here."
She felt used. Like she was some toy. Granted she had been throwing herself at him but she felt like there was going between them. There was. There had to be. Definitely something but c'mon! What's your name?! He's dreaming about other women while he sleeps? This was a mistake. Of course it was Kate. One week and you think anything meaningful could happen? What was it? 50? 60 women he'd been with? Oh god! What if I get some disease? Oh god! I just slept with a manwhore. What the hell was I thinking?
"Okay it's not what you think."
She stood up out of the bed and waited. He was covered by a pillow and guilt and while he still looked good and she wanted to believe he was going to say something to convince her to rethink things and as much as she wanted to claw his back and feel his mouth on her tits and hips thrusting in to her over and over again until –
Stop it!
She stomped her foot. She couldn't look at him if she was going to hear him out. She closed her eyes.
"I'm giving you ten seconds."
He got on his knees and waddled over to her. Two seconds wasted. He opened his mouth to explain but shut it just as fast. Started up again.
"Okay this is going to sound bad."
"Five seconds."
"I have a reoccurring dream about a little girl in a flower dress that calls me 'Daddy'."
Her mouth dropped. "You sick bastard!"
"No! Not like that! Kate! Wait!"
She moved towards the bathroom dragging the sheets behind her and slammed the door shut when she got there. Still leaving the sheets trapped in the door. A few seconds passed and the door opened again and they slowly inched into the room before the door shut again.
His phone buzzed like a mad hornet and he fumbled himself out of the bed with pillow still covering himself.
He saw the screen and he recognized the number instantly. He picked it up and pressed the green button.
"Go for Castle."
"Where the hell have you been!? Rick, there's been another murder." It was Ryan and he sounded like someone had just stolen the Yankees and placed them on Mars.
"Text me where. I'm on my way."
"Can't. Don't know where it is."
Now Richard's been in more awkward situations but he didn't have time to recall before he spouted, "Did it happen in a moving car or something?"
"Bring Beckett. She's gonna need to see this too." Then the call disconnected.
Something funny was happening. Body but no location? Richard's mind wondered.
In a spaceship? No. Why would I need to go to the precinct for a murder in space? Maybe someone in NASA knows me and they – No. That's dumb. Kinda cool. Solve a murder in space. Maybe Beckett could do something with that.
He heard Beckett's shower turn on and now back in reality he realized he should probably get some clothes on.
()*&
The hot water immediately did wonders for the repulsion she felt. She needed the shower bad. She felt gross. Well gross was the wrong word but it was not immediately wrong. Wrong. She felt wrong. Yes she found him fascinating for some reason and he was – and she hated to admit this now –
Really, really good looking and obviously well experienced for lack of a better term so –
Ew. Oh god.
The phrase 'manwhore' came up again in her mind and she felt like that was too harsh.
She coated the water over her body and got her hair wet.
Sure 'manwhore' was harsh but was it accurate? No. More of a womanizer. Like a morning talk show DJ that tried to get lesbians to make on the air.
She was entertainment to him last night. Granted he was entertainment for her too but now it felt like she bought tickets to for Shakespeare and now was watching an all nude production of Cats. Not in of itself a bad thing and it still might be fun but now what she thought she was getting.
What did you think you were getting Kate?
Knockknockknockknock
"Kate?"
It was him.
Ignore him. You're still mad.
"Kate can you please hear me out? I need you to hear me out please?"
She poured some shampoo in her hand and worked up a lather.
A click and a slight creek as the door opened.
Oh god what's he going to do? She worked the shampoo into her hair.
"Can I please explain?"
Sure you perverted, chauvinistic,womanizing, rude, egotistical, self indulgent, jerk faced, manipulative –
The run on sentence came very fast from his mouth.
"Look I don't know what the dream means but I've been having it for the last two years about once a week and I talked to a psychiatrist about it and he seemed to think that it's my subconscious trying to tell me to start a family."
-yeah right you lying so called man, you probably have told this story a million times, you jerk faced manipulative, heartless son of a bitch, I wonder how many dumb girls you told that too! Yeah girls! Not women! Girls! Stupid, pining, weak in the knee girls.
The part of her brain that tried to tell her that she was one of those girls for a little was shut out of the mental tirade she was having.
"But I'm scared to do any of that because I'm a cop and if – if something happens to me. Well then it's what happened to me all over again. I don't ever want that to happen to someone I care about."
She hated that now he was making sense. She almost liked it better when was a pig faced, asshole, manipulative, bragadocious, lying –
Then her thoughts derailed a moment.
-handsome, strong, smart, tough, protective, tolerant
Now she felt betrayed. Tolerant?
He puts up with you doesn't he?
Who gave you permission to speak?
Would you just shutup and let the man talk? He's opening up to you and if you're gonna write about him then you should listen.
Fine! But if he so much as even tries to act like last night didn't happen – last night – what was all that "What I do in one night could fill a book" bullshit anyway.
You came four times! At least twice that he could have noticed so do you think you could have taken a whole night of that?
She hated reasoning when she was mad. Her logic and emotional parts of her brain were like a firework show. The pauses in between explosions just enough of a breather for her body to continue to function.
No. I probably would have gone insane. Should probably take babysteps to get to that point.
You see?
His voice came in and now she was glad to hear he was still talking. Not that she was glad with him but glad that he kept trying. It was comforting to her in some weird way to know that he didn't leave last night. That he did stay. That he was in the bathroom and trying to make things right, whatever that meant.
"It's just … Kate?"
"What do you want Castle?" Can't let him think I've forgiven him that easily.
"There's been a murder. Kind of."
"And?"
"Well, it's tricky because there's no location."
Her hair now rinsed she flung open the curtain.
Wet, naked and looking amazing Richard had to pinch himself to hear what she was going to say.
"What was the murder in outer space or something?"