It's short but I have a lot on tap for today.

Then and Now by Oldest Man

Chapter 21

Rick hailed a cab but all seemed to be engaged so he walked down to the corner and stood behind a bus waiting to pull out into traffic. The diesel fumes cleared his sinuses and purged the putrid perfume the Fireplug had apparently bathed in that morning. Ah, the smell of New York, piss, sewage, puke and diesel fumes – the perfume only a true lover of a city could appreciate.

He walked back to the loft and had the doorman hail him a can. "Mr. Castle, there was a woman, a short lady, but man, the stuff she was wearing made my eyes burn. I didn't see you or I'd have hailed a cab for ya when you first came out. I was wiping out my eyes."

"S'okay. No problem. If it doesn't clear up, go stand behind a bus. Worked for me and I almost had to share an elevator with her!"

"God bless, that would have been – bad. Really, really bad."

For an instant he wondered why he hadn't smelled it in the loft but then grinned. The air cleaner and recycler he'd installed when Alex was younger and had asthma and allergies was still paying dividends. He needed to check the filters. It had been while since he'd even thought about having the electronic air cleaner serviced. No sense risking asphyxiation.

He tipped George and got into the cab and told the cabbie to take him to the Marina. He needed to finish hanging the radar reflector or he'd be the loser in a night cruising collision with a big boat – think aircraft carrier.

The Loft

She walked back down into the kitchen and found paper and pencil and started planning the evening. Her initial intentions of changing the sheets and then getting into a tub were sidelined by her need to plan everything to the finest detail.

Kate made a list of things to do and then threw it away. He was her husband and he knew her better than any man on Earth. Other than taking a hot bath and maybe shaving her legs and putting the satin sheets on the bed, there was nothing really for her to do.

She pulled two porterhouse steaks out of the freezer and set them aside to defrost but then thought better of it and threw them back in the freezer. Take out – Thai and maybe Indian. They each loved Chinese but Thai and Indian complemented her mood – horny.

She walked into Rick's office and found a legal pad and a pen and walked back out to the kitchen and sat at the breakfast bar and started to write out her 'homework' assignment. She didn't want any distractions when Rick came over.

'Fickle Muse'
New York Yacht Club

Rick's arms were killing him. He'd pulled himself up to the top of the main mast more times that he cared to remember trying to install the radar reflector but this time it seemed that the 40' to the top was twice that.

'Getting old, Ricky boy. Better lay off the calories.' He laughed out loud and then, catching his second wind, he hauled himself up to the turnbuckle and tied off the line. This time he had used his head and ran cord through the handles of the various tools he'd use so if he dropped one it wouldn't mean risking a heart attack to retrieve it.

It only took him 20 minutes to properly reconnect the collapsible radar reflector and then he was done. He still had his damned 'home work' assignment to complete but what the hell, he was a writer. How hard could it be?

Two hours later and he had his answer. It was damned hard. Every time he thought he was finished he remembered some other event or situation and he crammed it into the body of prose. He had 8,000 words and he knew he had to stop or he'd never finish. There were so many things that brought them together and just as many that had almost kept them apart.

He'd print it out at the loft. Screw the malodorous little fireplug. You couldn't summarize Rick & Kate in 2,000 words. He didn't think you could do it in a lifetime.

The Loft

Kate tore off the page and crumpled it up and threw it in the general direction of the waste can. She couldn't put it down on paper. There were just too many things that screamed 'better off divorced' and too few that whispered 'never better than when I was married'.

'Screw this shit! I love him. I don't need to immortalize it on paper. I made so many damned errors in judgment but marrying Rick Castle was not one of them. We were happy together. We will be happy again. Screw the damned little troll.'

She wrote a single paragraph and knew it was perfect.

It wasn't love at first sight. It wasn't even like at first sight. It was more like indifference at first sight. All that changed over the course of time. Indifference became grudging acceptance. Acceptance yielded to tolerance. Tolerance faded to liking him and that soon blossomed into loving him and needing him. I love my husband. I want what we had together back. Like it or not, Hannah, that's my version of Kate & Rick.

Satisfied with it, she set it aside and went up and stripped the bed and put on the satin sheets. She ran a bath and fiddled around with her hair and finally slipped down into the relaxing heat and wondered what they would talk about. If being together and talking would make the sessions harder or easier.

She dozed off for a bit until the cooling bath water woke her. She looked at the clock on the vanity and jumped from the tub.

He'd be here any minute and she hadn't put on makeup and she knew she'd have to do something with her hair.

Rick pushed the button for the elevator but decided to take the stairs. He didn't trust the elevator any more. With his luck he'd get stuck between floors and spend the night waiting for the elevator repair guys.

Nope. Better safe than sorry. He jogged up the stairs being careful not to mess up the flowers he'd picked up on the way.

The Loft

Kate looked in the mirror and was satisfied. Light makeup, hair up in a messy twist, his favorite t-shirt sans bra and a pair of skinny jeans and bare feet made her look comfortable and domestically sexy. Yeah.

She ordered food from the Thai and Indian restaurants and poured herself a glass of wine and waited. It was almost seven. She felt like a teenager again but smiled. There would be no barriers tonight to 'going all the way'.

She ran to get the doorbell. He was finally home.

A/N: Next up – the shrink makes waves and asks questions neither of them want to answer. Dum dee dum dum. It sounds better than it reads.

OM