The Old Haunt
Chapter 1
Castle stopped working at the 12th Precinct, not long after Kate became the Captain of her own Precinct; they had both decided that he should concentrate more on his writing, PI office or The Old Haunt. Alexis was busy at the PI office, he wasn't needed there either, so he decided the Old Haunt would be the better fit right now. Since he's already finished writing the newest Nikki Heat book, and sent it to his Publisher. That night he went down to the Old Haunt; to figure out what to do, Castle went down into his office and started planning. About an hour later Kate called, Castle told her that he was down at the Old Haunt; that she should stop by after work. Later on Kate arrived at the Old Haunt, descending the stairs to his office; Castle looked up as Kate reached the bottom step. A huge smile crossed his face as he saw her; he stood up from his desk, walking towards her with his arms extended outward. Kate walked right into Castle's open arms, wrapping her arms around his shoulders; he held her tight in his arms. They shared a long slow kiss, just holding each other tight, when they broke their kiss; both of them were breathing heavily.
Castle asked Kate to sit with him on the couch; he wanted to discuss his plans to renovate the Old Haunt, Kate sat down on the couch and Castle grabbed his writing tablet off the desk. He handed her the tablet, she started reading it, smiling at the thoughts that he'd put down into words. He watched for her expressions as she read, after Kate finished reading his thoughts, she replied; I have a few ideas of my own for the office. She said first off, we need a new couch, "this one has seen better days," also I'm thinking a library over here; pointing towards the back wall. The rest looks really good, but right now we should go home; we can talk about it more once we get there.
Arriving at the Loft, parking Kate's car in the garage; taking the elevator upstairs to the Loft, Castle punches in the code to unlock the door holding the door open for Kate. Closing and locking the door behind them, they both shared in the fixing of dinner; and the clean-up afterwards.
Castle and Kate walked into his office, to finish their discussion about their renovation of the Old Haunt; they both sat down on the comfy couch talking. They had agreed to start as soon as possible with the renovations on the Old Haunt; they were hoping it would be finished by Halloween.
The next morning after Kate left for work, Castle started calling around for Contractors; his first appointment with the first Contractor was at 10am, Castle walked the short distance to the Old Haunt. He arrived about a half hour later; Castle unlocked the door and entered, walking over to the bar and to put on a pot of coffee. Before he could finish his second cup, the first Contractor had arrived; walking towards to sound of the voice calling out, Mr. Castle? It's me…Eddie Monroe! Castle comes around the corner, extending his hand to shake Eddie; may I call you Eddie, shaking his hand as he walks inside. I told you a little about what my wife and I has planned for the bar area; the first thing that I want to discuss, is the office my wife is designing that, it's the first part that I want finished. They walked downstairs into the office, this is the way she wants it, and over in this corner she wants a Library and a sitting room. I'd like a bigger shower with multiple showerheads, light colored paint for the walls; and stained wooden planked floors English Chestnut in color. Then they walked back upstairs, walking around discussing the plans for the bar area; then they talked about the stage and dance floor.
Eddie left to work up his appraisal, 15 minutes later the second Contractor shows up; Mr. Castle? It's me…John Freeman! Castle meets him hand extended as he walks in, shaking hands while walking towards the office; John, I told a little about what we have in mind. Repeating everything that he told the Contractor before, the Library, the shower, everything upstairs too, including the stage and dance floor. As John was leaving to work up his appraisal for the job, Armando Ruiz walked in, Mr. Castle? I'm Armando; you called about an estimate to renovate your bar? Extending his hand as Castle walks up, shaking hands as they walk towards the bar, Castle asks, can I get you a drink or something?
Please, I'd love a soda if it's ok? Castle heads behind the bar, grabbing 2 sodas; walking back around they sit down at the bar, Castle shows him the writing tablet where he had written down what they had wanted done. They sat there drinking their sodas discussing the project, they walked downstairs into the office; Armando walked around listening closely, at what Castle was describing in detail. They head back upstairs to discuss what they want upstairs, everything in the bar area, and lastly the stage and dance floor areas. Before Armando left, he handed Castle his estimate on the page of his writing tablet; Nathan looks closely at it, then looks back at Armando. Nathan asks when could you get the permits and start. Armando replies, I can get the paperwork started by the end of day today. I'll call you when they are ready, and we can start the next morning.
Four days later Armando called Castle's cell, Mr. Castle…we have all the paperwork needed for the renovations; I can bring them by in about an hour. They met at the Old Haunt; Armando shakes Castle's hand and then hands him the papers, he looks them over and says this is great, Castle hands the papers back to Armando. You'll need them to post them wherever they should be, handing Armando the spare keys for the bar, telling him that if he needs anything, just give him a call.
They kept in contact over the next few months, checking in with the work at least once or twice a week; over the last several weeks Castle was hiring all new staff, holding interviews at the café around the corner from the Old Haunt. He must've interviewed 25 people a day until he found the right ones for the job, at least he felt confident that he had, telling them that he'd contact them soon. A couple of weeks later, Armando called, telling Castle that they were finished with the renovations, Castle went down to the Old Haunt to check everything out. After he looked around, Castle called Kate asking if she can get away; to meet him at the Old Haunt, she drove right over. Kate walked in and over to the bar where Castle and Armando were sitting drinking a soda, they both stand up and show Kate around the upstairs; Castle tells her to check out his office. Kate descends the stairs and gasps at the sight of the Library and sitting room, Nathan walks up behind her, well what do you think?
Kate turns around and thanks Armando, for the great job at bringing her vision to life; shaking his hand, and then looping her arm in Castle's arm, squeezing his arm a bit. Castle shakes Armando hand and walks him out, handing him the last payment for a job well done. Castle and Kate walk onto the dance floor, he pulls his phone out of his pocket opening up his song selection; hitting the shuffle button and one of their songs starts playing. They lock hands and start swaying to the music, dancing around the newly finished floor.
The very next morning, after the orders were delivered, it was finally time to get prepared, for the Grand-reopening of the new Old Haunt; which was set for July 4th 2009. Castle had arrived several hours before they were set to open, making sure that everything was ready. Rosa, Millie, Anna, and Sage; were the new waitresses, Nicholas, Cristian and Stephan were the new bartenders and Security. Angela and Zoey were the new cooks. They arrived about an hour and a half before they were set to open; Castle started helping tonight's Secret Entertainment to set up on stage. The Old Haunt plans; are to have open mic nights and karaoke nights, anyone who wanted to give it a try, would be warmly welcomed to give it a shot.
By the time they were set to open the doors, Castle noticed that the line had formed; and was getting to be pretty long. At 7pm; they opened for business, Castle was playing Host, and started seating the guests, and the waitresses started taking drink and food orders. Cristian walks up on stage, to announce the Old Haunts entertainment for this very special night. "Hello, I'd like to introduce our very special guest, "Keith." The music starts playing, Keith starts playing and singing; the crowd starts clapping and whistling some even headed for the dance floor.
Just seconds before Kate comes through the door, Keith walks out on stage; and starts playing, and singing. Kate then hurries up to the bar grabbing Castle by his arm, why didn't you tell me; he turned to her wrapping his arms around her. Smiling just thought that giving you a surprise would be a great idea. After that secret Birthday Party/Murder Mystery; didn't have any clue how to pay you back, and this opportunity presented itself and now it's payback time.
Castle takes Kate's hand in his, would you like to dance, Babe? She nodded, they walked hand in hand out on the dance floor, and Castle takes Kate into his arms. Looking deeply into her eyes, he whispered softly; "I Love You Always Babe," swaying with her, twirling her around the dance floor.
As the night went on, Kate and Nathan decided, that they should eat something. So they each ordered a Cheeseburger, Fries and a large shake, his strawberry and hers vanilla. When their order was ready, they took it down into Nathan's office; they sat on the new couch, which Kate had bought for his office. After eating their dinner and cleaning up, Nathan and Kate went back up to help out wherever they could. I suggested to Kate, that if she wanted to, she could probably ask; Keith and the band, if they wanted something to eat or drink in between sets.