A Box Full of Memories
by Castlefan6
Authors Note: AU Story for Rick and Jordan Shaw by request, prior to meeting Kate. This is TOTALLY AU, PRE-SERIES, with some fragments from Canon used, picks up where Rick has been dumped by Kyra and finds love with Jordan. THIS IS NOT CASKETT, THIS IS NOT CASKETT, THIS IS NOT CASKETT
I don't own Castle; I use the characters for amusement purposes only, except the ones I create.
Also, we take MANY liberties with the timeline from Canon and use events from other Canon episodes to make this a more believable fiction, thanks.
Prompt - since I have always had a soft spot for Jordan - I would really like you to write a story where they end up in a loving relationship. From Manxkid, one of my most loyal readers.
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you
From the song, Time in a Bottle,
Chapter 1
1:12 PM
Columbia University
/_/
Rick Rogers rolled over in bed, he didn't care if he ever got up again, what was the use. It had been less than 24 hours since the love of his life, the girl he thought he would spend eternity with, had dumped him. Making matters worse, she had done so on her way out of the freaking country.
He knew her mother didn't like him, but he never thought that Kyra would fall for all of her lies and schemes to break them up. He had thought wrong.
FLASHBACK TIMES SQUARE UNDER THE CLOCK PREVIOUS NIGHT
Kyra had asked him to meet her at Times Square at 9:00 PM, she had to tell him something, and when she left the voice mail, he had the sinking feeling come into his gut. He was hoping for the best, but all afternoon, he knew, in his heart he knew it was over.
Kyra Blaine was the first girl that he truly loved, sure he had crushes and gone steady in high school but no one could compare to Kyra. There was only one problem, her mother loathed him, and he knew of no reason why. The only thing he could figure was she didn't consider him worthy of her daughter, he a poor scholarship kid, Kyra was from not wealthy but comfortable parents, the emphasis on parents.
Sheila had openly called him a bastard, making him even more self-conscious about never knowing who his father was. He had fought his entire life with schoolyard bullies who would call him that name, but what could he do when it was the mother of the girl he was in love with.
He had showered and shaved, and put on the blue button-down shirt that Kyra had purchased for him, spritzed himself with the bottle of cologne, also a gift from Kyra, grabbed his keys and phone and headed out to Times Square, hoping he was wrong, but all the while knowing it was over.
He saw her just arriving as he turned the corner and approached her, under the clock as they had agreed,
"So, Kyra, what's the big mystery that we had to come out here to discuss, I mean your dorm is literally 5 minutes from mine, why did we come here?" he asked getting down to business if it was over, he didn't want it to drag out. He was strong, but he didn't know how long he could hold it in if she was dumping him.
"Rick, please come here, dance with me, please?" Kyra asked
"Dance with you? With what music, what's this all about?" Rick asked,
Kyra flipped on a small device playing I will Always Love You, as she motioned for him to come closer, he took three steps and gathered her into his arms. Maybe this wasn't a breakup, after all, he let his heart soar for a minute, why would she be playing their song if she was dumping him.
The music ended, and Kyra still held him, her face in his chest, quietly weeping. She gained her composure, then turned and said,
"Rick, I'm going away, so I'm not sure where we stand, I mean I'll be gone for a while." Tears streaming down her cheeks,
"What do you mean you're going away, I mean where, I can drive up to see you," as she shook her head as he was speaking until he stopped,
"No, you can't I'm on my way to JFK to catch a flight to London tonight. I've been accepted into a great program there for design, and"
"WHAT? For How Long Kyra?" Rick asked,
"Well, one year in London, then two years in Paris, so"
"Three years Kyra, where does that leave us, you're leaving for three years? What am I supposed to do, I mean, what"?
"Rick, please don't make me say it, please" as he noticed her voice getting firmer now,
"Why Kyra, why?" He pleaded,
"I need space, Mother has arranged this fantastic opportunity, a once in a lifetime chance, I have to take it, I have to,"
"Oh, I see, your Mother"
"Rick, please don't blame her, it's my decision, I mean, hell, we're too young to be this serious, I don't believe in marriage anyway," she said, in a spiteful tone,
"Since when? We were talking not long ago about our plans after graduation, none of this came up. What changed Kyra, or rather who changed? I can't believe I mean so little to you, do you really want or expect me to wait three years in hopes you'll come back and still love me? If you want to end things, for God's sake have the courage just to say it, it's over" Rick was hurt and feeling like he had been played,
"Rick, if you love me, then you'll understand, you'll want the best for me, that's what Mother said, and you're acting just like she said you would," Kyra came back.
"You won't say it will you Kyra, you want me to follow you to where? London? Paris? Then where, what about the life we talked about here? You know what, I see your mind is made up, your suitcase is over there, I can see your Mother in the shadow, so since you won't say it, I will.
"Goodbye Kyra, we're done, I wish the very best for you" he turned fought back tears, and the urge to turn around but he could see the reflection of her running to her mother. Well, she won, nothing else to say, Sheila Blaine had defeated the bastard, and now he had to figure out what to do next with his life, minus one girlfriend who was leaving for a foreign country with his heart still with her.
XxX
He had almost fallen asleep again, he had only slept in short durations, one hour or less before he would wake to the sight of her walking away, and the sound of Shelia laughing, when the banging on his door woke him again.
"Go away," he yelled, not even bothering to look to see who could be outside the door.
"Get your ass out of bed, I'm not going away, you're not the first guy who got dumped and you won't be the last so get off your ass, we starting your recovery today" his best friend and fellow classmate Bob Weldon screamed through the door.
Rick knew he was serious and unless he wanted the entire campus to know his business, Weldon was loud enough and crude enough to broadcast it. He better get up as he directed. He stumbled to the door, still dressed in yesterday's clothes, he was going to burn the blue shirt he had on as soon as he could, along with everything else she had given him. "What do you want Bob, can't you let me alone for just one freaking day?" he asked his friend,
"NO, every day you waste is a day you won't get back. Look, Rick, I know it hurts, it sucks even, but you can't say we didn't warn you. You were told by us all that Kyra was still under her Mom's spell and wouldn't do anything without her approval. I'm sorry you let it go so far to allow her to break your heart" he comforted him,
"How the hell do you know we broke up Bob, it just happened last night?" Rick's brain began to clear,
He noticed Bob was carrying a cardboard box, then it hit him, Kyra told Bob first then gave him all of his belongings that she had acquired or he had left at her place.
"Bob, don't tell me, is that?"
"It is, sorry buddy, what could I do? When she first called, I thought she wanted to surprise you for your birthday, oh by the way Happy Birthday Rick, Margie sends her love as well, but when she came over to Margie's place, she had been crying.
"All she would say was she had to go, and she knew you wouldn't understand, so please give you this box today when I saw you. She also asked that I check on you if you skipped class and I hadn't heard from you by noon." Bob said
"Did she say anything else, Bob? Level with me, you know I can tell when you're lying. "Rick looked at his friend,
"Not to me, but she and Margie went for a ride, when they came back both had been crying, and when I asked her what was wrong, she just said it was girl stuff I wouldn't understand. I asked her if she wanted me to stay, and she said no, she needed to be alone to think, so I left."
"Thanks, Bob, sorry it cost you a night with Margie, I didn't want my problems to impact anyone else. I'm sorry Margie got involved with it," he said as he took the box and tossed it on the couch, not even bothering to check for breakables.
"Well, Margie called this very early this morning, and well, she was sorry and we got together before class"
"Jesus Bob, do you have to be so fucking open with your life, especially now? I'm up, I'm alive, I'm going to go take a shower and I'll call you later, OK? He said as Weldon realized that he was rubbing in the fact he had just got laid, and Rick was in real pain. His timing sucked as usual.
"OK, but if I don't hear from you, this will become a normal routine, and your neighbors are all too eager to hear about your personal details, don't make me come back over here." He said,
"Yea, yea, yea" as Rick slammed the door shut, just as Bob had cleared the entryway, he wanted to be alone, Happy Birthday? Indeed, Happy Birthday to me, he thought, her timing couldn't have been more hurtful. He knew where the arrangements and timing came from, he was angrier at Sheila than at Kyra, either way, she was gone.
He stripped out of his yesterday clothes, not even bothering to unbutton the blue shirt that had been her gift to him, ripping the buttons off as he shirked it off and threw it at the garbage. He would use the burn barrel later; he was sure there were items in the box that would find the same fate as the shirt.
The shower was hot for a change, not every student trying to shower at the same time draining the limited hot water supply he supposed, as he enjoyed the water beating down on him. His thoughts turned to what he would do next, remembering that Sheila still lived close enough to enjoy his heartbreak if he let his actions show it.
No, he wouldn't give the witch that pleasure, this was his birthday gift to himself. No matter how bad, or how much something hurt, he would freeze the smile on the outside of his face, even when he was dying on the inside.
He toweled off and got dressed in comfortable jeans, and a new shirt, one that he had purchased. He really didn't know what to do, other than what he always did when they had fought, or during the month-long cruise, she had taken with her parents right after they met. His hand reached for and retrieved his leather-bound journal where he recorded his innermost thoughts, fears, hurts, and wishes, from behind the top shelf of the bookcase. It was going to get a lot of use for the unforeseen future he thought.
He opened his calendar on his laptop, and deleted every date they had scheduled, he pulled out the tickets to the Journey concert next week and placed them in an envelope to give to Bob and Margie, it was going to be a surprise for her, guess the surprise was really on him.
He had worked a month for those tickets, but hey someone would enjoy the music. He didn't think he could bear to hear Faithfully for a while, definitely not while sitting front row center facing the immortal Steve Perry. Besides, who would he take? If he went by himself there would be an empty seat, spelling LOSER with a capital L, so he would give them away.
He felt bad about letting his emotion keep him from class, and sent an email to the professor, asking to be allowed to make up the time. His answer came back in just minutes, "Rogers, everyone needs some me time, especially when affairs of the heart hit, no makeup required, remember there is a test next class."
Jesus did the entire campus already know he got dumped, well, maybe it was a good thing, it would cut down answering the question "where's Kyra", so get it out in the open now he thought. Why hide it, as Bob said, everyone gets dumped sooner or later, apparently his time was now.
XxX
Three Weeks Later
The weeks had ground by, each day bringing him one challenge after another, the memory box from Kyra still sat on the couch where he had tossed it, still unopened. He woke this morning determined to start the plan to live his life, without Kyra, it's what she decided so he had no choice.
His first action was to put that damn box with her handwriting on it, out of sight, so the closet would do nicely. That's when he saw the letter sticking out of the top, he retrieved it and tossed it on the counter, no time to wallow in the past now.
He headed over to the common area, he loved to find a shady spot under the tree, they, he had to stop using the plural, he enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air as he worked on his studies. As he walked to his usual tree, he saw a group of girls whispering, so he just took a deep breath, and kept walking.
The worst thing about getting dumped was the reaction from other classmates, no that was a lie, the worst thing was your heart feeling like it was breaking and there was nothing you could do about it. Either way, it sucked. He knew people weren't trying to be cruel, well, most of them, but the pain was still there, and feeling the humiliation brought back painful childhood memories.
It seemed just when he thought he had outgrown those hurtful feelings, BAM, something happened and they were right back on his mind again. The bullying of other boys, the looks from the girls, maybe that was why he got the nickname of one date Rick in high school, he dropped them before they could drop him.
It also could account for the two Golden Gloves Boxing Championships Trophies he left at home when he entered college, just another reminder of fighting to be recognized. Many of the boys had tasted their own blood from a split lip, or goose egg over their eye if it were still open enough to see out of.
He met Kyra, and Bob was right, everyone did warn him, she was too dependent on her mother and garnering her favor, but he dived into the relationship full steam ahead anyway. There was something about her that made him feel comfortable, even when her Mom mocked him with the label of a bastard. Kyra, still showed how much she cared, and even got into trouble for defending him, but it was short-lived.
He settled into the grass, and opened his journal, gosh it had been a long time since he had written anything. Perhaps it was just meant for him to release his thoughts, who was he kidding he would never make it as a writer, just another pipe dream as Sheila had called his aspirations.
He read what he had written, making edits on the fly, and really it wasn't half bad, at least in his opinion. It still needed an ending, and well now he could supply that, who doesn't love a good love story. He changed real-life experiences to fit his desires, Kyra's character comes back, after just one month, defying her mother, and seeks him out.
They marry, and of course, his books become published, providing a lifestyle far above his mother-in-law's expectations. His lifestyle never goes back to the days of poverty and he and the heroine raise three children while enjoying a wonderful life.
Perhaps the crowning moment is when his wife's mother is forced to come to him for support, her own husband leaving her for another woman after cleaning out their savings. He acted with humility, and generosity, buying an apartment for her, where she lived the remainder of her life. The payback was each day she lived she knew how wrong she had been about him, and he killed her with kindness.
He finished up the manuscript, and sent it to a classmate, to proofread before submitting it to her uncle who was in the publishing business. Georgette Cowell was the niece of the founder of Black Pawn publishing, but Rick was unaware of that. All he knew about her personal life was she was a very pretty girl with a younger sister named Gina who was a pain in the ass, and boy crazy when she visited.
She was just a good friend, a class ahead of him, who liked to party, sometimes a bit too much. That's how they had met, Rick prevented her from being used by a group of guys, after she passed out at a party, and they had been friends ever since. Georgie as he called her warned him about Kyra, warning she would break his heart.
He thought, well, that's a good way to waste some time, it doesn't hurt anyone, and who knows, every so often someone still wins the lottery. He had chalked his chances of ever being published by anyone to that of winning the state lottery.
He had regained some of his appetite by now but didn't want to frequent any of the places they had deemed as 'theirs', which pretty much took up most of the eateries' on campus. His phone pinged with a text from Georgie,
"Hey Rick, got the file, can we talk about the book over lunch, Uncle is really looking for new talent. Can you meet me for lunch at The Old Haunt, it's not that far, and I think it might be the break you need, so sorry about the other Luv, here if you need me, but let me know about lunch ASAP."
God, what did Weldon do, take out a full-page ad in the Times, did everyone on campus already know? Anyway, Georgette was a friend and he was getting hungry anyway. It wouldn't hurt to have lunch with her, she was a hell of a lot prettier than Bob, he laughed,
"Meet you at the Haunt in thirty minutes, thanks for acting on it so fast" Rc
A moment later his phone pinged, "My pleasure Luv, see you soon, Gc
TBC