He didn't know why he did what he did. Maybe it was because he was being divorced by his soon-to-be ex-wife. Or it could be the fact that now he has to care for a baby who doesn't need to be exposed to this kind of behavior. If he could kick himself he would.

Either way, his moral compass was so far off it was all his fault for being where he is right now.

Where is right now is the last place he would expect to have ever been. He sits in a cell that is roughly 4 feet by 6 feet in the holding area of the 12th Precinct. He sits on the cot totally naked. But the NYPD had the decency to provide him with a blanket to cover himself with and to keep what small amount of his dignity he had left. He was too confident that he'd never get caught on that police horse. He thinks back to two hours ago….

He didn't know what had come over him. One second they were walking down the sidewalk adjacent to the 79th Street Traverse in Central Park talking about his latest Derick Storm book and then out of the blue his friend Michael (his now ex-best friend) had presented him with a dare. Of course like the idiot he was he accepted the dare but that was most likely due to the amount of alcohol he had consumed in the past 2 hours. At present, he was feeling no pain. Couple that with the fact that he was getting a divorce and had to care for a child he threw caution to the wind and accepted said dare.

What he didn't expect was for Michael to tell him to strip down to his birthday suit and he would return with the necessary item for the dare so he didn't have to. Being that it was broad daylight and most everybody was at work or in school and the fact that they were in a deserted part of the park Rick couldn't see the harm. So he ducked behind some shrubs, took off all his clothes, and stayed there until Michael got back. Three minutes later he sees Michael walking towards him with a brown and white spotted police horse.

Even in his drunken stupor, he couldn't figure out why Michael was leading a police horse behind him. That all changed when his friend came to a stop right in front of them.

"So Ricky here's the dare. You need to ride this horse and make one pass around the Great Lawn Oval and return. If you finish this dare I'll give you a 75 percent advance on your next Storm book without any questions asked."

All Rick could see were the dollar signs in his clouded head. Before he knew it he was shaking his head yes and coming out from behind the shrubbery. He grabbed the reins for the horse and climbed up into the saddle. Michael took his phone from his pocket and took three shots for his own private collection as he rode away. He knew that no one would believe him if he told this story to anyone so he wanted proof.

"Three Delta twelve from dispatch."

Mike Royce picks up the microphone in the patrol car he's sitting in and answers the dispatcher.

"Three Delta twelve go ahead."

"Three Delta twelve you and one Lincoln forty are to return to the precinct house posthaste."

"Affirmative. Is there an issue?"

"There is. Let's just say that her Captain is looking out for her. Dispatch out."

Royce replaces the radio microphone back into its holder. He can't for the life of him figure out why the Captain needs his rookie. But as ordered he'll bring her back to the precinct.

Kate looks at the book display announcing the latest novel for her favorite author while she stands in line to buy her lunch. He slowly became her favorite author after her mother had given her one of her earlier Richard Castle books to read. She was hooked instantly. It's the only connection she had to her mom and she loved her for it. The last time she saw Richard Castle was when she was 13 years old. Her mother had dragged her to one of his book signings and she didn't want any part of it. She thought she was too cool to stand in line to meet some old fuddy-duddy who wrote mystery novels. The second she caught sight of him from her place in line, her whole tune changed. He was handsome. And as a 13-year-old he was her first crush. But then real life stepped in six years later and that ended all of her dreams of ever meeting him again.

She finally reaches the register and pays for her lunch. She can see the front hood of the patrol car out in the street as the clerk puts her sandwich in a plastic bag and she walks out counting her change. She hears the yelp of the siren coming from the car and that has her looking at her T.O. sitting in the car double-parked.

"Shake a leg kid we have to go."

Kate takes a quick jog towards the car, opens the door, and gets in. She puts her seatbelt on and puts her lunch on the floor between her legs. She doesn't even have time to ask where they're going and Mike has the car in drive speeding down 10th avenue. They're both silent on the ride back to the precinct. All the time that they're driving she thinks that she did something wrong because he's not saying a word to her.

As they pull up the precinct Mike finally utters what seems to be an order to her.

"Kid, report to the captain. He's waiting for you."

She picks up her lunch and leaves the car wondering what he needs.

Rick had made his first and only revolution around the Great Lawn Oval. He was happily on his way back when he noticed two uniformed police officers. One was looking directly at him with a scowl on his face pointing at him. It was then when he realized that his world would come crashing down around him. The patrolman, who he realized was wearing calf-high riding boots, was walking towards him at a fast pace. But he had no intention of going anywhere without any clothes.

"Sir, can I ask where you came into possession of this horse?" The cop asked as he took the reins back from Rick.

Rick decided to take the idiot's way out and lie.

"What horse officer?"

"Why the one you're sitting on of course."

"Oh. This horse. Umm, he was a gift from my friend who's right over there."

Rick, who started to point towards Michael's last known location sees nothing. Literally nothing. His clothes are now missing along with his ex-best friend so his arm slowly lowers back down.

"Sir, you do realize that possession is nine-tenths of the law right?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that I borrowed this horse?"

The cop just stood there looking up at Rick with a disconcerting look. When he told Rick to get off the horse he noticed the handcuffs dangling from the officer's finger. He was in for it now. He was arrested, read his rights, and placed in the back of the patrol car naked. It wasn't until the cop who had put him in the car offered him the blanket to cover himself with because he didn't want Rick's naked ass sitting in the rear seat of his car. And this is where he finds himself now. He's being transported to the 12th precinct to face indecent exposure charges and theft of property.

They fingerprint him, take his mugshot, and process what he tells them. Since he has no identification they have to believe what they're being told.

He sits there thinking about what he's done and then a thought hits him. He can get out of this mess by just calling his friend Bob Weldon and get the charges dropped. He never got his one phone call when he was processed and this is what he will use it for. His own get out of jail free card.

"Sir, you wanted to see me?" Kate asks a little hesitantly.

"I did patrol person Beckett."

Kate stands there waiting for the worst but is surprised to see that it is not coming. What she hears next is not what she expected.

"Downstairs in holding there is someone whom I know you'll want to meet."

Kate just looked at her captain as if he had an insider's secret.

"Sir?"

"Beckett, just go down to holding. Dismissed."

She turns around and leaves his office. She heads for the stairway because it brings her right to holding on the first floor.

She keeps her body to the wall as she walks towards the holding cell not knowing what to expect. What she can make out is a lot of grey. As she gets closure she can see the NYPD logo on the back of the blanket. Her first thought is that someone sitting in the holding cell is homeless. But as she gets closer to the cell she can tell that the man who is sitting there with his head in his hands has no clothes on his body whatsoever. Which intrigues her to say the least. She can't understand why Montgomery would want her to come down here and see this person. As she's walking towards the cell and her nightstick clangs against cell bars and the man automatically looks up.

As he watches her walk towards him he gets a sinking feeling. He's seen this before… she's a fan. Now he can go nowhere to get away because he is stuck in the cell and will deal with what is about to happen.

"Hello," Rick says from the holding cell.

"Hi."

"So, will there be more of you?"

Kate hasn't a clue about what he is talking about but advances to the cell door.

"I'm sorry?" She questions.

"Fans, like yourself. Will there be more of them to come and see Rick Castle's fall from grace?"

Kate has the feeling of her cheeks reddening at the mention of her being a fan. But she can't let that get in the way, she is a cop after all.

"No, Mr. Castle there will be no other lookie-loos coming down here to gloat. I do however wonder how you got yourself into this mess though."

"I am wondering the same thing."

Kate only stood there and wondered how her mother's favorite author had become what she saw in front of her now.

"So Mr. Castle, how is it that you ended up naked on a police horse? I'm just curious."

"It's a long story, Miss…"

"It's patrolman Beckett actually."

Rick has finally taken his head out of his hands and looked up to see her standing next to his cell.

"My mistake. But either way, I'm not sure it's something you want to hear about."

"Try me!"

"Well me and my friend Michael were in a bar. After we got too plastered to drive, we decided to walk home. As we were walking through the park he came up with a dare for me. The stakes were that he would give me 75 percent of my advance for the next novel I was writing."

Kate just looked at him not really believing what she was being told. Rick on the other hand took offense to her look of doubt.

"What? That is a big deal in a writer's world! When you get an advance for a new book your publisher tries to nickel and dime you to death. They usually try to give you a 10 percent advance." Rick explains.

"I'm still trying to figure out how you wound up naked and on a police horse? Don't tell me that your friend goaded you into this and you agreed readily?"

"Ex-friend. And yes he did."

"I see. So tell me how are you going to explain this to your daughter?"

Rick was left with his mouth hanging wide open at the mention of his daughter. How did she know about her?

"Mr. Castle there are some things that you are not aware of. The first thing is that everything that you think you know about Miss Haas, well let's just say that she is making money on both ends. Your publicist is not all that she claims to be."

Rick could only stare at her disbelievingly. He trusted Paula to keep Alexis out of the news and now to hear about this? But he needs proof.

"How do you know this about her?"

"I remember hearing about a case involving another one of her clients in the movie industry with no names mentioned but they were stalked by a man who thought he was entitled to this person's private life. What she was doing was making a buck by telling this stalker where her client could be found at any time. And the rest is obvious. Needless to say that we arrested the stalker for menacing and having pornographic pictures on his camera. He's doing 5 to 10 up in mid-state correctional now."

"Wow. What happened with Miss Haas?"

"From what I understand she has lost about 50 percent of her client base because of this little stunt. So if I were you I'd start shopping around for new representation."

"I'll take it under advisement. Thanks."

Kate turned away from him to leave seeing all she came to see. As she was walking away she heard…

"Patrol person Beckett, wait a second."

Kate really didn't want to turn back to talk to him but there was something in his voice that she just couldn't resist.

"Listen I know I've been a fool and this is not usually the way I act in public. But I was wondering if you might consider letting me take you out on a nice dinner date. I will be the perfect gentleman and no funny stuff, I promise." Rick looked at her with honesty brimming from his eyes hoping that she'd say yes.

"I'm not too sure Mr. Castle. You're in a holding cell. It would be kind of hard to eat dinner from in there." Kate said as she let a small smile loose.

Kate removes her notepad from her shirt pocket, scribbles something on it and rips the paper off the pad, and sticks it through the bars. Rick draws the blanket around his naked form and takes the piece of paper.

"Call me when you get sprung, and we'll talk."

Rick looked down at the piece of paper and saw her first name and her phone number on it. Now he had a reason to get out of here. She was going to talk with him about a date. The second that she was pushing the door open to go up the stairs he was calling out from his cell.

"Can I get my phone call, please!? I was never given it and I need to call my friend." Rick said urgently.

The cop walked over to the holding cell with a push-button phone stretching the phone cord from his desk as far as it would reach. Rick takes the phone and dials the only person who can get him out of this mess and still keep what happened off his record. The call connects…

"Bob, it's Rick. I need a big favor…"

The End

Up next will be a multi-chapter. I should be able to start posting at the beginning of May.
P2P