Castle and Beckett wander around the room a little more.
Kate can tell by his demeanor that Rick is proud to be the person escorting her in and out of conversations with her old classmates.
The one concern Kate has kept inside her about are actions on her part when she was only 18 that have not materialized and she is hoping that either no one remembers…that is not likely…to no one else really knows…which is also impossible
As they move from the bar, one of several in the room, they see several former classmates of Kate are who all seem to recognize her but they don't really stop to talk.
Then a woman walks up "Kate Beckett?" the tall raven haired beauty remarks
Beckett halts in her forward motion and turns back. After only a brief heartbeat responds "Helen Underwood?"
The woman rushes toward Beckett and wraps her into a hug "Kate Beckett. I am thrilled you are here. I was hoping you were coming"
"Helen. It is great to see you too" Kate responds with a smile on her face. You don't look any different than you did in high school"
The woman pulls back giving Kate the once over from head to foot "And you look even better than you did back then. WOW! You are one hot lady" as her eyes return to Beckett's face "And how do you keep that body? In that dress? With those legs? I mean you were the hottest chick in Bed-Sty but look at you now!"
Beckett blushes for just a moment from the woman's remark then trying to deflect "Helen…" Kate pulls Rick closer "This is my husband, Rick…"
The woman reaches out before Kate can even finish "Hi Rick. Great to meet you. You must be taking great care of Kate. She is glowing"
"I try but there is not much I have to do. She is low maintance"
Kate looks at her husband and gives his arm a gentle poke
"So Helen. What are you doing now? Are you married?"
"No, I am not married. I was once. I lost him in Afghanistan"
"I am so sorry" Castle responds
"Thank you. And as far as work…I am a lawyer. I have a practice in Chicago. It keeps me very busy. You remember, toward the end of the school year, we talked about us both becoming lawyers. Did you make it?"
"No. I got started at Stanford in pre-law but then my mother was killed and I came home to be with my dad…and I joined the police department"
"I think I did hear about her. I am so very sorry Kate. I know you two were very close…except for that book thing…you know with the author" Helen is smiling
Castle looks at his wife "What book thing is that" he turns his head back toward the other woman
"Oh, her mother was enamored by this mystery writer and his novels. Kate got tired of hearing about him …what was the name? I remember something Storm." Looking at Kate "I think it was Derrick Storm books? Who was that author?"
Rick sees the color wash from his wife's face "Oh she was tired of hearing about the writer huh?"
Kate looks at Rick. "That was until I finally read one of the books then I definitely changed my mind about him"
Helen pipes back in "So you like him now?"
Kate has her best smile directed at Rick "Yeah! I like him now. In fact I love him now. That's why I married him"
Kate looks back at her old classmate "Helen. I didn't finish introducing my husband. This is Richard Castle, my husband. the writer of Derrick Storm and Nikki Heat. The father if my children and the man I am proud to be married to"
"OH WOW! Again Kate…and wait. Did you say children?"
"Yes. We have a boy and a girl. Rick had a daughter when we married. Alexis. She is a doctor in her residency down at Parkland Hospital in Dallas"
"I am so jealous"
"No children?" Rick asks "I'm sorry"
"No. We wanted to wait but then he got killed and…well you know?"
"I understand Helen" Beckett responds "Hey listen, we need to get together and talk later. Maybe tomorrow"
"Great. We can meet after breakfast. I 'll see you then"
Beckett and Castle turn to move toward the center of the room when she stops and turns into Rick and moves her body right up against his "Low maintance? Huh?"
The shocked look on his face answers her question if she got his attention
"Well…yeah…I…I mean I don't have to do a lot things FOR you like some men have to do for their wives"
"Babe, you do more for me than I thought possible from our personal life to my job but "When we get back to our room later, I will tell you exactly what type of maintance I need…understand?"
"Yes ma'am"
/\/\/\/\/\/\
As they go deeper in the ballroom again, they encounter a man sitting at a table alone that looks vaguely familiar to Kate." Castle I think that is Wes Wright"
"Who is Wes Wright?"
"He was the captain of the football team and was voted most handsome. He was homecoming king along with…uh…I can't remember her name"
Rick sees a little blush cross his wife's face "What?" he asks
"Trying to deflect "What What?"
"I saw you turn red"
"It's nothing"
Castle pulls her closer to him "I know you Kate. That is something. You don't fluster easily and you turned red the instant you recognized him"
She uses her eyelashes looking sultry up at her husband "OK! I was seventeen…he was voted the most handsome…and the most popular…big football player and I had a giant crush on him… but he was dating Nancy Hopkins… and she was voted the most beautiful… and I was a rebel and I was not pretty like her… and he didn't even know my name…"
Castle pulls her into him tighter and leans in to kiss her "That's good"
She pulls back "WHAT do you mean? That's good?"
"Well if he had noticed you… you might be with him and I would not be married to you. And by the way, I have seen your annual pictures… and you were so beautiful even back then…"
She drops her head to his shoulder. After all these years they still are still in love as much as they ever were and his words and actions prove it
"So, Mr. Castle…you are OK with me having a crush on the most popular guy in school?"
"From his looks he may not be the most popular anymore"
Kate looks at him more closely. "He does look at little rough" she pauses then continues the thought "And a lot drunk. Look at him babe. He has three empty glasses in front of him and another in his hand"
About that moment the man looks up and his expression changes "KATE BECKETT!" he is almost yelling. He stumbles trying to stand up
"Whoa! Will you look at you? Man oh man. You are still hot"
He finally has come close to the pair but he smells so bad neither Rick nor Kate can stand to be near him so they try and back up as he moves closer trying to give Kate a hug
Kate puts put an arm stopping him
He finally stops in his motion "Oh sorry, didn't see him" pointing at Rick "Is this your boyfriend?"
"No Wes, this is my husband"
Looking at Castle thru bloodshot eyes "too bad" he barely mumbles then looks back at Kate "It would have been great"
Rick laughs when Beckett responds "In never gonna' happen land"
Kate turns toward Rick "Let's go babe" and she pulls him away from the drunken man
When the two get out of earshot Castle looks back "So. You had a crush on him. Just think. If he had noticed you, then you might be here with him"
Holding him tight to her arm and leaning into his ear "Shut up"
She can feel him laugh.
As they get about twenty feet away another woman approaches "Kate?"
This time a shorter woman with cropped brown hair is in front of them. Kate recognizes the woman immediately. Mariam Yarnell
"Mary" Kate almost screams out "How are you?"
"I am great. A whole lot better than Wes" she points toward the drunk man stumbling back to his table carrying yet another drink
Kate is looking in that direction "What happened to him. In high school, he did so great"
"He's not doing so great now. He dropped out of college when he couldn't get on the football team…"
"Yeah, football was kind of his love" Beckett comments
"When he came home, there were no jobs, so he lived with his parents until they died. He lost the house they owned. He even was fired from the hamburger joint in the neighborhood where he was flipping burgers"
"Man that is a long way down from top athlete" Rick comments
"Oh sorry Mary" Kate grabs Rick's arm again "This is my husband Richard Castle…Rick this is Mariam Yarnall. We all called her Mary"
The woman reaches out "So nice to meet you Rick…Can I call you Rick?"
"Of course"
She looks back to Kate "I heard about the famous writer following a hot police detective, named Kate Beckett, around and writing the Nikki Heat books about her. I thought that might be you, and look here. It is. So Kate how long have you been married?""
"Twelve years…we have two children of our own an my adopted daughter, Rick's daughter Alexis"
"Glad you married Rick. You did know that Wes had the hots for you in high school but he felt like you were out of his league"
"WHAT?" Kate is in shock. She looks back toward the drunken man then back to Rick when he smiles and remarks "So I was your second choice?"
Mary reacts to Castle's comment "You might not have wanted Beckett back then. She was a rebel you know"
"I heard something about that" Castle smiles down to Kate "Do you have any juicy tidbits of history I can use against her?"
"OH yeah. I do." She gleams a look at Beckett "You remember what we did on Lexington that got you and me and Maddie in trouble?"
Kate responds by grabbing his fingers tighter and her face goes totally red
She tries to choke out a comment "UM Mary…Rick doesn't need to know about that"
"Oh come on Kate. You weren't the only one there that night"
Kate realizes that Rick is looking thru her now "Yeah but I never told Castle about that"
"You mean your dad never told him either?"
Kate decides that she is busted "I don't think so" looking up to her husband "We will talk later. OK?"
"Oh come on Kate. Everyone gets busted one time or another"
Kate's head snaps around. It dawns on her that Mary is NOT talking about the same incident on Lexington that she is worried about "OK Mary. Go ahead and tell him"
"Well we were all a little drunk…no we were all a lot drunk and someone challenged us to a drag race." She looks back to Kate "whose car was it "Bobby Howell? I think. He had a Camaro. We were all in the car and he blew a front tire. We crashed. The police took all of us to jail. Kate's dad had to bail her out of jail"
"Really?" Castle is still looking at his wife "Rebel Becks in lockup. The same Beckett that enjoyed putting me in holding"
Trying to change the subject Kate turns back to her friend "So Mary. How about you? What have you been doing since graduation?"
"I married a man I met in college. Stanley Seibert. He is an investment banker. He helped Charles Ivy start his business"
"Wow" Kate responds "That is great. So you are doing well?"
"Yes. Extremely well"
"Will he be here tonight?"
"No. He had another commitment he had to be at but he hopes to be back for the formal dinner"
"We are looking forward to meeting him" Rick answers "Come on Kate. We need to talk a little more about your past"
After spending a little more time re-connecting to her old classmates the evening begins to slow down Rick pulls Kate to the dance floor where some soft romantic music is playing. He pulls her to him and she goes willingly against him
"I have wanted to do this all night" he tells her
Her eyes are closed and she is lost in his warmth "Me too"
A moment later she looks up "Are you about ready to go back to the room and do some other things you have wanted to do all night"
"Why Captain Beckett…whatever do you mean?"
She takes his hand and slides it down past her hips to her rear "This is what, I believe, you have been waiting for"
Alright. Enough Set up Someone has to die