A/N: So sorry - last time i forgot to thank Lord of Kavaka for my awesome cover art - thanks!
And thank you to everyone for your amazing and supportive reviews! I really, really appreciate them!
Chapter Six
A block from Ruby's, Richard Castle slowed his walk to a near standstill, sucked in a deep breath, and pushed it out slowly from between o-shaped lips. It was fine; everything was going to be fine. He could do this.
The uncertainty roiling in his gut did not emanate from the fact that he would be sharing brunch with Kate for the first time in seven weeks. That was actually the highlight of the event. Back to their Sunday routine—finally! No, his nerves came from the topics he anticipated them discussing. Namely, Kate's new fiancé. But it was fine—as long as he stuck to his plan, everything would be fine.
Castle slept better Saturday night than he had the night before, though not by much. His brain was consumed with thoughts of Kate and the blonde Brit she toted around his apartment like he was the greatest prize since Lord Stanley's Cup. She stroked his arm, danced her fingertips over his shoulder, and gripped his hand in hers. It seemed as though they were always connected in some way—what was up with that?
That's what people in love do, the cruel side of his brain told him somewhere around one a.m., but he refused to buy into such a notion. Kate was not in love; that wasn't possible. One could not fall in love with another person after knowing them such a short time period; it was too improbable. She was in lust, yes, but not in love and that was exactly what he needed to point out to her.
Castle's plan for their first post-William discussion was simple. He was going to ask Kate more things about the professor—his likes and interest. Castle could easily do so under the guise of being curious about his good friend's future husband. Castle suspected that as she answered these questions, he would be able to pick out bits and pieces that did not make sense with Kate's life and he intended on pointing them out to her—innocently, of course. Or in as innocent a voice as he could maintain.
Just in case her first few answers did not lead him to glaringly obvious potholes in her grand plan to marry this near stranger, Castle had a backup plan. During his conversation with William the prior evening, the Brit had let slip that he had never actually seen a baseball game; evidently he had no interest in the sport. This, Castle was certain, would ultimately be William's Achilles' heel. If there was one thing Kate Beckett unquestionably loved it was baseball.
Taking one last deep breath, Castle pulled open the door to Ruby's and stepped inside. The coffee-and-grease scent hit his nostrils and sent a chill down his spine. Yes, this certainly was the perfect setting for stage one of his break up the wedding plan.
Just as he turned to greet Denise with his usual flirtatious demeanor, he noticed that she was staring at him oddly. She gazed up at him as though he'd suddenly acquired a horribly offensive tattoo all over his forehead. "What is it?"
Denise shook her head slowly. "Nothing, nothing. She's in the back to the left of the restrooms."
Castle faltered monetarily as he glanced at their usual table by the front window and then back at Denise. Their table was empty, so why was Kate in the back of the restaurant? "But-"
"She said you needed a table for three," came Denise's clipped reply. Then, she shoved a menu at his chest before turning away.
Stunned, Castle shuffled forward, loosely gripping on to the menu. Denise seemed angry with him, which was perplexing in of itself, but yet not the most confusing thing for Castle's brain. Table for three? Why in the hell would she need a—
Oh.
Castle spotted them, clustered together on one side of a table with four chairs. His stomach sank all the way to his loafers at the sight of the blonde haired Brit. Kate wasn't alone. She'd brought the professor. She'd brought her fiancé to their brunch. Their first brunch in seven weeks! Their brunch!
The writer gripped the menu with white knuckles as he tip-toed his way through the narrow spaces between tables. He was just about to lose his temper when he forced himself to take another deep breath. He was the best friend—the (lord help him) maid of honor—he needed to stay on Kate's good side at all costs. Grumbling to himself, he stepped up to their table. "Good morning! Kate—you brought William…." Though he spoke through gritted teeth, he'd actually managed an upbeat tone, which at that point he considered a win.
"Of course." Kate looked up at Castle with a laugh. "What was I going to do? Leave him in my apartment?"
"No, that would have been silly," Castle replied as he sat down, hoping neither of them would pick up on his sarcasm.
"Kate says you two come here a lot for brunch," William said. He picked up his menu and examined it with a level of disgust he didn't bother to hide. "It certainly is interesting."
"It's actually our favorite place for brunch in the city." Castle informed him wisely.
"The food is excellent." Kate pointed out.
"But it's no McLaren's, right?" William said. Kate laughed and elbowed him.
Castle watched this exchange with no small amount of revulsion. He suspected McLaren's was a place where they'd had a date—possibly several—which meant in the interest of keeping his breakfast down he wanted to hear nothing about it.
When their waitress arrived, Kate and Castle requested coffee while William asked what teas the diner offered. The waitress shrugged and said she'd have to check. Barely a minute later she returned with two mugs of coffee, one of hot water, and a handful of random packets of tea bags. "Evidently tea isn't a common order at Ruby's," Castle commented. Glancing at Kate, he saw her fighting to keep a straight face and saw this as a positive sign; finally a little normalcy!
William shuffled through the packets before choosing one marked Earl Grey with utmost skepticism. With lips pursed tightly, he ripped the package open and submerged the bag into his mug of water, swirling it around with a resigned sigh.
Seeing an opportunity, Castle asked, "So, William, is this your first time in the States?"
He shook his head. "No, no; I've been here a few times."
"To New York?"
"Once," he replied. "But only for the day. I was with a pack of schoolmates; we saw the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty."
"Ah, so that means Kate'll have to show you the real New York," Castle pointed out, giving his friend a wink.
"I believe I'm experiencing that right now," William said after sipping his tea with a grimace.
"Crappy diner tea is not the real New York." Kate pointed out.
"No it certainly isn't. How long you gonna be in town for? You can come out to my place in the Hamptons. That's like the fancy real New York." Did Castle really want Kate and William in his guest room doing—his stomach flipped in his gut—god only knew what? Of course not, but he was a subscriber to that classic theory: keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
"Well, actually," Kate said, jumping in before her fiancé even opened his mouth. "It's interesting you brought that up. We were actually talking about dates for our wedding."
"Ah, perfect!" Castle smiled at her. Perfect as long as they were many, many months away. "What were you guys thinking?"
Before Kate could answer, their waitress returned to take their meal orders. Castle looked at Kate, as she always started their brunch orders, expecting to her the usual request exit her mouth. Instead, he was absolutely floored when she requested a bagel with a side order of bacon. Picking up on the writer's shock she explained with a chuckle, "You just can't get a good bagel in England."
He nodded before muttering out his order for eggs, hash browns, toast and sausage. William ordered the same less the sausage. "I don't think I'm feeling adventurous enough for your American diner breakfast meats," he explained after the waitress left.
Yeah, Castle thought, forcing himself not to roll his eyes, because regular American diner sausage is much weirder than blood pudding.
"So anyway, you guys were talking about dates?" Castle asked, sipping his coffee. "Fall is probably too soon and you probably don't want to do it during school so New Years? Or June? June weddings are the big thing, right?"
Kate glanced at her fiancé, nervously pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, and then back at her writer friend. "Actually, we were thinking August."
Castle nodded in approval. "Good, good—plenty of time to plan and-"
"This August." She clarified.
Castle blinked at her. Surely he'd heard her wrong. There was no way she meant August of that current year. It was already mid-July!
Kate patted the arm of her British companion. "We're getting married in three weeks."
Again, Castle blinked and his chest constricted. Oh god, was this what a heart attack felt like? "You're getting married in three weeks?" he echoed, his brain still trying to process the information.
"Yes."
"No…"
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes—Castle!" she laughed before their back-and-forth pattern could continue. "C'mon you're my maid of honor, right? At least pretend to be supportive."
At the final word in her statement, Castle brain shifted away from "neutral" and back into gear. Supportive—happy and supportive. That was him, alright. At least, on the outside. Inside his heart was shredding into smaller and smaller pieces. "Wha—I…No, no. I am supportive. It's just," he mustered a fake chuckle. "Three weeks? I mean, how can you even plan a wedding that quickly?"
Kate arched an eyebrow at him. "Didn't your mother plan her wedding to Chet in three weeks?"
Castle pressed his lips together. Oh, damn, she was getting crafty on him wasn't she? "It was four, and they were engaged for a least a month before that. Besides, it was her fourth wedding—you can't plan pomp and circumstance in only three weeks."
"Your mother has been married four times?" William asked his eyes widened.
Castle looked at him briefly. "Yeah, marriage is like a hobby for her."
Before Castle could turn the attention back to Kate, William asked, "Really? How long was she married to your father?"
Now fighting to keep his tone pleasant, Castle said, "She never was."
"Castle's actually never met his father," Kate informed William, though she did so in a way that made it clear that would be the last sentence spoken about the topic. Castle was grateful for this, as it was not his favorite point of discussion (particularly with those he did not know well) but more so, they were getting off topic and he needed to steer the conversation back to the main, panic-inducing point.
"Back to this whole…wedding in three weeks thing."
Their conversation took a brief hiatus when the waitress brought their meals. After they'd settled in, Kate continued. "It's not going to be a wedding per se. It'll be simple and intimate."
Castle nodded. He completely understood anyone who wished for a quiet, intimate affair. Unfortunately, his mother was not one of those people, which was why her fourth trip down the aisle was witnessed by guests well into the triple digits.
"It'll be at my family's castle outside London."
Castle blinked at the gentleman. "I'm sorry your what?"
"Oh you should see it!" Kate beamed. "I mean I've only seen pictures but it's gorgeous! Just gorgeous!"
"Uh huh." Oh yeah, he was definitely going to be sick. Looking down at his plate with disinterest, Castle realized he still had all his pieces of sausage. Wanting to remedy this mostly for Kate's sake, he pushed his plate towards hers and gestured at the meat with his fork.
"Oh I'm fine, thanks," Kate said, casually waving the plate away with her hand before crunching down on a piece of bacon.
It was all Castle could do to keep his jaw from crashing open. Unbelievable! She was unbelievable! Though he recognized the pettiness of this being the final straw, he simply didn't care. She left the country promising they'd still talk, but they did not. She showed up seven weeks later with a fiancé—a fiancé!—in tow. She never told him, her very best friend, about said fiancé before his arrival. She was getting married in an absolutely absurd amount of time and now! Now she was cheating him out of his sausage and bacon brunch!
Clearly oblivious to the aneurism her friend was having, Kate causally sipped from her coffee mug. "Anyway, I'm sure you're wondering why we're rushing into this wedding thing."
Castle felt a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. Please don't be pregnant. Please, please, please don't be pregnant. He begged internally. Of course he did not want Kate to not be a mother if she so chose, but he knew such news would completely push him over the brink at that period in time. "Uh, yeah," he managed. "A bit."
"It's just…we want to have it all done before the fall semester starts."
Castle nodded; finally something that made a little bit of sense. "Oh jeez wow I didn't think about that." Turning to William he asked, "So you'll be moving to New York then?"
"Well actually-"
"We're still deciding on that," Kate finished for her fiancé.
"Right, sure. Big decision. Wouldn't want to rush into anything."
Kate gave her writer friend a perturbed look upon picking up his double meaning. Castle chose to stare intently at his half empty plate rather than acknowledge her silent scolding. "Well, anyway, even though it's going to be a small event, there's still a lot to do and-"
"So let me help you," Castle said. Immediately, he felt better. Three weeks; three weeks until the wedding. That was a significant setback in his plan, but he was determined to follow through with it and what better way to do that than spend as much time with Kate as he possibly could?
Kate laughed. "Oh no, Castle you don't-"
"Kate, please." He cut her off with a grin oozing charm. "As your maid of honor I insist. Share the burden. It's not like I have a real job to keep up with. Besides, I just went through all this with Mother so, really, who is more qualified than me?"
Kate considered this a moment; he did have an extremely valid point. "Okay, you're in, but really Castle if it becomes too much."
He shook his head. "It won't be and, truly, it'll be my pleasure."