Christmas Train Chapter 5, a castle fanfic

Christmas Train

Chapter 5

December 28th

Rick and Kate walked up to Shrom and Vile. "You look amazing Vile." She wouldn't have bought it for herself, however on her it looked completely amazing. "And you, Shrom, very handsome. You need a cane to walk?" She didn't remember him ever using one. Maybe he had hurt himself lately. Kate watched him twirl it with one hand. Vile just rolled her eyes.

"You're looking really good, Pink Skin." Shrom reached out and ran his fingers down the edge of one of Rick's lapels. "You clean up nice."

"Forget him. Where did you get that dress! And have you grown lately?" Vile didn't remember Kate being taller than Rick.

Kate raised her skirt just enough to show off one of her shoes. "Six-inch heels and the dress is complements of Castle. I have no idea where he got it." She was going to ask him about that later even if she did love it.

"I told you Rick could come through. You look stunning!" Vile clapped her hands together since she was so happy for her.

"We need drinks!" Rick announced. "I'll leave you with these two, you're in good hands." Kate let go of him and watched him walk away. She didn't understand why but she already missed him.

"Uh-oh!" Vile whispered. Concerned, Kate turned to look. She saw Will step into the room wearing his tux. He looked nice in it. It was just that it wasn't remotely Christmas-y looking. It was all black. Black jacket, black trousers, black vest, black shoes, black tie. The only thing not black was his white shirt. It looked good on him, but it had nothing to do with Christmas.

"Kate." He barely recognized her as he walked up to her. She was lovely before, she was breathtakingly beautiful now. "That dress is amazing." It made him wish he had gotten it for her.

"It is, isn't it." Kate looked herself over one more time. "Castle got it for me. He's a sweet man."

"Castle." Bracken growled out his name with pure hatred. "This has to end, Kate. You came here with me. I don't want you near him any longer and you need to stop this investigation. You shouldn't be involved with either of them." He'd had it.

"I did and I'm leaving without you. I've never really seen you like this before, but you're an ass, Will, and I don't want anything to do with you. Now that I think about it you showed signs that you were like this. I ignored it, but no more. This ends now. We're over. I've already moved out so the cabin is all yours. And I am investigating the murders, it's what I do and I'm proud of it. People are dead and you should be concerned about that. There's a killer running around on this train and he or she needs to be stopped."

"You're making a mistake, Kate, and it's going to cost you. We should talk about your future." Will took hold of her arm to move her away from those two. The only good thing was that Castle wasn't here yet.

Shrom unsheathed his sword from his cane and pointed it Bracken's chest. "She remains here. You are the one that is leaving." Shrom made sure he understood his situation. Bracken looked at him with killer eyes. Shrom smiled wickedly. "Challenge accepted, human. I will take great pleasure in killing you." It was only going to take a moment for him.

"Stop this, both of you!" Kate yanked her arm from Will's grasp. She already had two dead bodies, she didn't need a third or a fourth. "Leave, Will. We are over. I'll pack any of your things in my apartment and you can come get it when you have the time." Kate was done with him.

"There's nothing in your apartment I care anything about," he sneered. "And this isn't over yet. You and Castle are going to pay for this." Will made up his mind what he was going to do and turned on his heel and walked off with a stiff, haughty stride.

"I can still kill him for you. It'll only take a second," Shrom offered as he watched a killer walk away.

"Let him go. We're over." Kate watched him until he was gone.

Vile stepped over to Kate and touched her arm. "You're much better off with Castle anyway. That man is evil. Castle's good for you."

Kate wanted to disabuse Vile of the idea that she and Castle weren't anything, they were simply hunting for a killer. But Rick chose that moment to show up with four drinks that he was barely balancing. It took Shrom and Vile taking their Andorian Whiskeys from him for him to finally be safe.

"Did I miss something?" Everyone looked upset and very serious and they hadn't been that way when he'd left them.

"It's nothing," Kate told him. She sipped her drink and her eyes opened wide; it tasted wonderful.

"Her boyfriend showed up," Vile imparted.

"Ex-boyfriend," Kate asserted then tried to hide from looking at Castle.

Rick looked around but didn't see him. "Is he going to be a problem?" Rick wasn't sure what he was going to do about it if he was, but he would think of something.

"No," Kate answered just as Shrom said, "Yes." Rick looked from one to the other.

Kate wanted off this topic so she could enjoy the party before going back to searching for a killer. She set her drink down, took Castle's drink, and set it down, too. "Dance with me, Castle." She pulled him onto the dance floor.

Kate found herself holding him and since she was actually a little taller than he was thanks to her new heels, his face was right there. So were his lips and so were his eyes. It was very, very easy to get lost in them.

She was still looking deeply in his beautiful blue eyes when suddenly they literally sparkled or she thought they did. It was enough that she needed to get out of them so she moved her head next to his and held him closer.

This dance was nice but she was also feeling his hand on her exposed back. He was slowly stroking her skin. She shouldn't have but she liked it and turned her head so her lips could touch his neck.

Three dances later and she was still lost in his arms. His touch was doing things to her and his scent was also doing something to her. It was clearly his aftershave, she'd never smelled anything like it. She needed a break before she became addicted to all of it.

Then the music changed to something faster and Rick let go of her and started dancing!? She wasn't really sure what it was he was doing but it had her smiling and laughing at him. Then he took her hands and had her doing it too.

The next song was just as fast and Kate found herself smiling and laughing and actually enjoying it. Castle was weird but he was proving to be fun to be with.

"Break time, Castle." The music changed back to something slow and she needed a time out.

Kate got herself talked into Christmas coffee while Rick ordered something called Paris that turned out to be orange in color. Then he offered her a sip. "That's really nice!" She stuck with her coffee but what he had ordered tasted pretty good.

"They look good together," Kate commented as they watched Shrom and Vile slow dancing while holding each other close.

"They're a real pair that's for sure," Rick agreed and then decided to risk it. "What did Bracken do, Kate?"

She really didn't want to talk about it. "He continued to be an ass so I broke up with him. …I'd rather not think about him any more." She really wanted him to drop it.

"Naughty list," Rick said succinctly.

Kate chuckled softly. "You and your naughty list."

"Never underestimate the power of the nice and naughty list." Rick offered her his hand. "Dance? They look a little lonely out there."

Kate took it. "Sure." She could go back to being lost in his eyes and drowning in the scent of his aftershave.

December 29th

Kate really couldn't believe Castle's cabin. It looked like Christmas; it felt like Christmas; if she wasn't mistaken it even smelled like Christmas.

Getting out of bed, she was confronted by the gown she'd worn last night. It was just hanging there with her shoes on the floor under it. He had told her to keep it. "I'm certainly not wearing it," Rick had told her and she'd laughed at the idea of him trying to wear it. Kate stroked the dress and came to the realization that she hadn't truly laughed for the last year or more. Ever since she'd started dating Will. Somehow Castle had changed all that.

But she had a killer to find so here she was, standing in the doctor's office trying to get him to tell her something. ANYTHING!

"Surely you have found something. You're a doctor!" At least that was what he kept telling everyone especially the train employees who were STILL standing behind him for reasons that escaped her.

"They both bled to death after being stabbed," he stated and didn't miss the look Kate gave him. "The knife appears to be the same. The depth of the wounds are similar. The depth difference can be attributed to the amount of force applied, I suppose.

"Based on the angle of the wound and the pooling of the blood I would venture that both were sleeping in their beds at the time. Unless they woke up when being stabbed they never saw their attacker. Though even if they had awakened at the moment of the attack, the shock and agony would have undoubtedly incapacitated them.

"Both have a different blood type. Both were male, one aged 57 and the other 62. Their homes are in different cities and states. I've checked the blood for what I can and haven't found anything out of the ordinary." The doctor hadn't found much more.

"So they weren't forced to sleep when they were attacked, they were simply sleeping." Kate sighed; she was kind of hoping they'd been drugged. It would've given her something else to use for a search. "That leaves me with how he or she is getting into the cabin. I can't find where anyone but them or a crew member entered the room to clean it daily." Worse was that each of them had a different crew member that cleaned their cabin.

"More than one killer, maybe. One gets him into the cabin while the other does the killing?" Kate thought out loud. "Except I never see anyone else go in or out. You'd think he was invisible or something."

"Or a ghost," the doctor suggested.

She scowled at him. "There are no such things as ghosts," she said firmly.

"The Christmas Ghost," the doctor insisted since this was a Christmas Train.

"Castle." Kate had a question for him now and inadvertently said his name aloud.

The doctor's eyebrows shot up. "Castle is the Christmas Ghost?" That was what they were talking about, after all.

"NO! But he does seem to know a lot about Christmas. Now I just need to find him." Kate left the doctor so she could search for Castle.

She ignored Will when she went through a car that he was in and continued her search for Castle.

She found Vile though. "Vile, have you seen Castle?"

"He's a couple of cars forward. He was helping to decorate a tree with lots of stuff." She really didn't understand the purpose but it did seem to be helping the tree look better.

"Thanks." With a little nod, Kate turned to leave.

"Kate, wait! You like him, don't you," Vile remarked before she got very far. Kate stopped to look at her.

Kate nodded. "Castle is nice, so yeah, I like him."

"That's not what I mean and you know it. You accepted a gown from him. You accepted the jewels that went with that gown. You danced all night with him. You're sleeping in his cabin. I watched you two last night. I saw something between you two." Vile shook her finger at Kate. "Don't tell me you didn't feel something."

Kate was taken aback. "I have a killer to find, not a new boyfriend," she said forcefully.

"This trip ends in a few days. You may never see him again if you aren't careful. Castle is a soft soul, nothing like myself or Shrom. He isn't going to start anything so you're going to have to do it. …He's a good man, Kate. And he's right about one thing. Will, as you called him, is a bad man. A very bad man. Naughty list, as Castle says it, fits him perfectly. Did you love him or were you comfortable hiding behind him?"

Vile figured she had said enough and walked away.

Kate stood there, not sure what to think. Will clearly wasn't the man she had thought he was. But evil? "He's a senator, what would he know about getting past the locked cabin doors? …Unless he paid someone." She knew he had money. Some of the things he had bought her were not cheap.

Instead of searching for Castle she went back to the security room. This time she was going to watch the door that used to be their room. She hoped she didn't see what she feared that she would see.

She had a lot of hours to watch and wasn't looking forward to it. Then if, and that was a big IF, their door did open and no one went in or out, what did that mean?

Kate was still at it for what felt like hours later. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you," Castle said as he entered the room. "Come on, there's something you need to see." Rick took her hand and gently tugged.

"Castle, I'm trying to find a killer, I don't have time for this." She didn't want to keep watching video but it was her job and no one else was going to do it.

"This is a vacation, Kate. There are events that you're going to see on this train that are once in a lifetime events. Come on," he wheedled. "You need to see this. I'll bring you right back if it makes you happy, promise." Rick tugged again and this time Kate followed him.

They finally found a window they could look out of together. "What am I supposed to be seeing?" Kate saw only blackness and stars in the distance.

"Just keep watching." Rick looked at his watch. "Any minute now."

Kate grabbed his hand and looked at his watch. "Where did you get this thing?" It didn't look like any watch she had ever seen before in her life. It was totally unique.

"This little thing? It's been in the family for generations. I don't actually know just how old it is. Kind of cool, huh?" Rick liked it for what it looked like not so much that it told the time.

He attempted to focus her interest on the window. "Any second now." Kate looked out the window and still didn't see anything. Then suddenly there was this massive flash of light. She also saw a vast beam of light shoot out in two different directions.

"What was that!?" She had never seen anything like it.

"That, my dear Kate, was a supernova. It was untold light years away so there's no danger, but when are you ever going to see that again?" Rick had loved it. Granted it meant a sun just died and had taken its planets with it, but it had been spectacular.

"A supernova." Kate peered out the window again. It was still going on. "How long does it last?"

Rick shrugged. "How should I know? Go ask Shrom, he's from space. I'm from Earth."

Kate kept watching. It really didn't seem to change any, but it was interesting. "Okay, I've seen it." She was done with it.

"It's a supernova!" Rick was loving it.

She suddenly blurted, "What do you know about ghosts, Castle?"

"Ghosts? What about ghosts? What have you seen?" Rick began looking everywhere for ghosts.

"Christmas Ghosts, Castle." Kate didn't have time for this foolishness.

"Ohhh, those. …Don't you know about the three ghosts? The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come. Don't tell me you've seen one of them. What did he look like? Or was it a she?" he asked.

Rick started chuckling as he suddenly remembered the movie. "The bitch hit me with a toaster."

"Toaster? Castle, what are you talking about?" There were times when she didn't understand him no matter how nice and gentle he was.

He tried to explain. "It was a Christmas movie. The Ghost of Christmas Past was trying to get Bill Murray to see his Christmas past. You know, Scrooged."

"A movie? I mean real ghosts." Kate groaned; she'd fallen down the rabbit hole and had just asked about something that didn't exist.

"So you believe in ghosts. That's great! I'm proud of you." Rick hugged her.

As much as Kate hated being caught talking about ghosts as being real, she really didn't mind being hugged by Castle. Then she remembered what Vile had told her. She just didn't have time for this, she had a murderer to find. She stepped out of his embrace and realized that she missed being in his arms. "What do you know about ghosts, Castle?" They didn't exist but maybe what Castle had to say might help her.

"Christmas Ghosts. …How much time have you got? Um, maybe we should continue this in your room," he suggested and looked around since their talking about ghosts was gaining unwanted attention.

It wasn't until Kate saw people watching them that she caught on. "Yeah, probably." He had a point.

"I'll get the coffee. …And the Irish Whisky." Rick smiled and left her to go the bar.

Kate extricated herself from the others and walked toward her room. Castle's room.

She waited impatiently, her foot tapping, when Castle suddenly entered her room. Of course he could get into the room. It was his room.

"Okay, Castle, what do you know about ghosts?" Kate was willing to try and keep an open mind, especially if it meant she would catch her killer.