If Only
by Castlefan6
Authors Note: Thisis my AU version of an alternate ending to Love and Die in LA. Some Angst, some canon but mostly AU. All things are the same till the Gantz ending, Previously notes courtesy of Dust Jackets dot com.
I don't own Castle, I use the characters for amusement purposes only
Chapter 3
Previously
"And you think that is going to help Rick?"
"Long term I know it won't but if I can distract myself for a little while then I can start forgetting her a little at a time."
"Well, I don't want to sound forward, but if you need someone who isn't expecting anything but companionship, I'll be out here for two weeks, I'm at the Cosmopolitan Hotel"
"You're kidding right?"
Cosmopolitan Hotel
4 Hours later Same Day
As promised Rick see's the Cosmopolitan driver David, holding his sign Mr. Rooke, spelled incorrectly deliberately to help keep his arrival on the down low. As soon as David spots him, he smiles and makes his way toward Rick and now Darlene, who was even more attractive in the brighter lights.
"Hope you don't mind David, but Darlene is a guest with us as well, so I thought we could save a trip and share the ride."
"No Problem at all sir, and Mam, how was your flight, have you stayed with us before?"
"It was a very pleasant flight, thanks for asking David, and yes I stayed here about 5 months ago, maiden name was Sipos, now I'm Marzano soon to be Sipos again."
"Would your husband be Wayne Marzano, the real estate investor Mam, he's a legend out here and just kicked off another phase of building out by Red Rock."
"Yes, that would be him, well for a few more days, then it's back to poor little me."
Rick is calculating the value of construction of some of the newer buildings and by any stretch, would Darlene be left as a poor little me. As they arrive at the hotel, the Bellmen take the light bags each have, and then escort them both to the VIP room where they are checked in. Rick has the penthouse on the 52nd floor, as Dan promised, and Darlene has the one on the floor above him.
Darlene takes Rick's phone and dials her cell, then quickly hangs up, "Now you have my number Rick, call when you want to have lunch or just hang out, I'm sure I will have loads of free time".
Rick repeats her action, and says, "Well it is modern time, so now you have my number, plus my room number so call my cell or room when you have some free time, and as you can say we can hang out together."
They arrive at Rick's floor and the bellman makes a discrete maneuver to allow them a moment of privacy, as Darlene reached up and gently kissed Rick's cheek, "I'm sure we'll talk soon, bye for now"
Rick blushes slightly, but old habits never break, "I'm sure we will and remember I'm right here if you need anything, anything at all Darlene."
She smiles and waves slightly as the elevator doors close, and Rick heads to his suite. He sent some, well most of his clothes to the dry cleaner, with the bellman which made unpacking a quick chore. He decided he should check his emails and texts and retrieves the large bottle of Single Malt Dan always had placed in his room, that man was such a delight to work with, never forgetting a single detail.
As he enjoys the sipping whiskey, he opens his phone first for texts, sees the list of 54 unopened, and quickly skims the list, most were from Paula, Gina, or one of their associates trying to seem anonymous, but he was on to them. Then he saw the one from Kate, from just a few hours,
"Arrived Safe, hope your business trip gets great results, Thanks again for first class, really made trip home enjoyable. See you soon, KB"
He typed out a quick response,
"Glad you enjoyed First Class, and you are home safe, talk soon, Rc"
He wasn't angry or even hurt at Kate, how could he be, she had tried to make up for the time she acted like the love-struck fool over her good doctor. He had forgiven her, and now it was time to move on and forget.
It wouldn't help either of them if he acted like a petulant child who didn't get his way, she had plenty of opportunities to fall in love with him, it just didn't happen, no one's fault.
He called Alexis and filled her in on where he was at, and not to worry, he really was searching and researching for a new character, and he had a lead. If she believed him or not, he never knew, sometimes, well many times if he were being honest, she was the mature one in the household.
Just as he had cleared all the other messages and listened to Gina rant and rave over the next few chapters on four voice mails, which he deleted half way through, his phone pinged with a new text.
"Hey Rick, the trip made me hungry, care to join me for a late lunch or early dinner? Hugs xoxo Dar"
Well, what the hell he had to eat anyway so he responded,
"Would love to, where, When, Rc
"Henrys is nice, and shouldn't be crowded this hour, want to wait for me by the elevator bays, I'll be right down."
"Henrys is perfect, give me 5 minutes, and I'll meet you by the elevators,"
Rick did a quick splash of cold water on his face, and freshened his cologne, grabbed his phone and key card and headed out. As he approached the elevators he could see Darlene was already there, looking very sexy in a sheer sun dress, that if the AC was cranked up, he was going to have a problem keeping his eyes off her subtle breasts and nipples poking through the material already.
"Hey Rick, you look relaxed, thanks for accompanying me to lunch, I hate eating alone."
Rick was surprised that she had noticed he had changed one blue shirt for another and slipped into casual dress slacks, to be more comfortable.
"Thanks for noticing, I didn't think you would it was such a subtle change, and you're right, dining alone is always the worst part of travel. I'm glad you invited me along, good food, good company, great way to start the trip off."
"Oh Rick, you have to learn that about me, I notice EVERYTHING about you, I told you already you're my favorite author, and Kate Beckett is crazy for ignoring you. Oh, I'm sorry, again none of my business, and we aren't here to talk about her or Wayne, let's just enjoy the evening if we can." As her beautiful hazel eyes lock onto his blue orbits, what was that look, not passion, not sadness, but compassion. Maybe he was reading too much into her kisses on the cheek and her message signatures.
"You know Dar, that sounds like a great idea, let's get some dinner and discuss the rest of the evening." He smiles at her as he eyes sparkle even more at the use of her nickname rather than the full name. He extends his arm as a gentleman that he is, and she intertwines her arm with his as they enter the elevator.
The walk from the elevator bays to Henrys took them through the main part of the casino, where Dar received several leering looks, and even a wolf whistle. Rick didn't fare to badly either as woman glanced at him, then whispered and then eyed him all the way out of sight.
"Looks like someone get's a lot of attention when they are in public Dar, see you're beautiful, just like I told you on the plane. You could have your choice of just about any man in here, so don't let the choice of your ex, impact your confidence, in short You're Hot" as he smiled a deep smile and she blushes and lays her head on his shoulder for a moment.
"Rick, you're too kind, and by the way you aren't doing to bad yourself, I'm waiting for that big bosomed bimbo over there to throw her bra at you, she has done about everything else to get your attention," she smiles
"I only have eyes for the lady who I accompany, and tonight there is no one else I would rather have dinner with than the lovely young lady on my arm" as he glances into her eyes, God those eyes are going to kill him, Remember Rick, she's still married he tells himself.
As they approach the entrance to Henrys Restaurant an attractive Asian female steps out from behind the podium and embraces Rick in a very tight hug,
"Rick, my God it's been forever since you've been here, how are you, and oh I'm so sorry, Ms. Marzano, Rick is almost like family, my little five year old sees a cutout at a book store and knows it's Uncle Rick."
"Hey Lana, so great to see you as well, how are the family, still doing well, I hope."
"Yes, they are Rick, Thanks to you, Brandon finishes up Residency this year, and will be an attending next year, we don't know what we would have done without your generosity, and believe me, if you need anything medically, you call us."
"It's a deal Lana, give Brandon my regards, and my little man, a hug from Uncle Rick."
"Rick can I snap one shot of you to show him who I saw today, he is going to be so excited,"
"Sure, if Dar doesn't mind you can tell him this nice lady is helping Uncle Rick feel better, and now he's almost all well again." Rick smiles as Dar comes into the picture puts her arm around him as he embraces her, and tilts her head just so they are touching, as Lana snaps the shot.
"Lana, can you email me a copy of that please, I would like to keep it since it's our first picture together."
"Sure Rick, you old handsome devil you, your room is ready let me show you the way."
They are shown to a wonderfully designed and decorated smaller banquet room, but it has all the amenities they would need. Rick holds Dar's chair and as she is seated, she smiles and says a very sincere Thank You.
Rick sits down and can't help but feel eyes upon him as he looks over the menu, he see's Dar's beautiful eyes staring at him,
"What? Did I do something wrong Dar?"
"Actually you did everything right Rick, it's been years since I was treated like such a lady, and pampered, holding doors, assisting with my chairs, making sure I was attended to, No nothing wrong dear man, just overwhelming a bit to me since I haven't been pampered like this before."
"Well you should have been, any woman who is as beautiful, kind and sweet as you are should be treated like the man's queen, if he doesn't see that he doesn't deserve you."
A tear comes to Dar's eye, as she simply looks at him through those eyes, now watery and says
"Thank You Rick. I met Wayne through his Sister, I was her hair dresser and never made more than $35,000 Dollars a year till I married money, so I'm just this country girl who got lucky, or so I thought. The old Eagle's song, I guess every form of refuse has it's price is so true in my case."
"Well we will just have to change that, and to finish out that song lyric, we'll do it in a Peaceful Easy Feeling, since you could never have Lying Eyes, at least not to me."
That sets the mood for a marvelous dinner, as they quipped back and forth over songs from the 80's and 90's and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, it was almost 10:00 PM when Lana came to check to see if they were OK, before they even realized what time it was. They had spent almost 7 hours together and had fun just laughing and talking.
As Rick escorted Dar all the way to her door, she took his arm in hers, and laid her head on his shoulder,
"I know I sad slow Rick, and I also know I'm still married, for a few more days, but I just wanted to let you know, I haven't had this much fun since I was just a hair dresser from Ohio hanging out with friends, thank you for a wonderful evening." She reached up and ever so lightly brushed his lips on her way to a sweet kiss on his cheek.
"Call me when you know what's going on with your court date, or if you want to hang out some more" Rick smiled,
"How does brunch sound tomorrow at 10:30 AM, I really do like hanging out with you"
"Sounds perfect to me Dar, Good Night, and Thank You for listening and being here, this is a great first step. I'm not going to lie to you, but you really knocked my socks off tonight, I had more fun than I've had in a really long time, so thanks" as he leans in and kisses her cheek so sweetly.
As he turns to walk away, he hears, "Can't wait to see you tomorrow, sleep well, I know I will, Good Night Rick"
He turned and gave her perhaps the first real smile he had smiled in years.
"Yeah Dar, me too, Good Night"
Rick's Room
7:00 AM Next Day Pacific Coast Time
Rick awoke after having one of the most pleasant dreams that didn't involve a certain New Your Detective. He felt more rested than he had in a long time and figured he would take advantage of the state-of-the-art Gym at the hotel, just as soon as he worked through his texts and emails.
He fired off a good morning text to Alexis, that was standard, she would worry if she didn't hear from him, and a moment later her reply came through, a Thumbs Up sign with "In Chem Class, Love you, with the heart emoji in place of the word love.
He glanced through the remaining and two stood out, the first from Captain Montgomery, the other from Kate, within a half hour of each other.
"Rick, sorry to inconvenience you, LAPD was full of shit as usual, still had to suspend Beckett for two weeks, so WILL you PLEASE come back, when you get yourself together, as a favor to me? Think about it. Roy"
The next was from Kate,
"Rick,
Just found out you resigned, matter is all cleared now, Seager filed a false report, but Roy did suspend me for two weeks, We want you, make that I want and need you back as my partner, call me please so many things I need to say I'm sorry for,
Always,
Kate,"
He knew Kate, with time on her hands she would persist till he answered, and he never was rude so, he typed a brief response to her text,
"Kate, glad to hear LAPD lied and got caught, but sorry about your suspension, not sure what or where I'll be, when the time is right, we'll talk. Nothing to be sorry for,
Stay safe,
Rc"
To Roy he replied,
"No inconvenience Cap, you were doing your job, unclear what future plans are, or where, Let you know when I work things out,
Thanks
Rick"
He then proceeded to the private gym on his floor for his first good workout in months, yeah, things were looking up, taking it one day at a time.
TBC