Happy Halloween, everybody! Enjoy!
Chapter Three—October
Kate had her nose stuck in a book, like every morning, but this morning she could almost feel a pair of eyes burning a hole through the book. She ignored Rick for as long as she could, trying to focus on the child mystery in her hands, a Sammy Keyes mystery, one of her favorites, but after reading the same sentence five times in a row and gaining nothing from it she finally lowered the book.
"What do you want?" she asked, annoyed. "Can't you see I'm trying to read here?"
Rick just smiled at her and shoved a paper pumpkin in her face. Kate snatched it out of her hand and flipped it open.
"You are cordially invited to the Rodgers' first annual Halloween Extravaganza! This Friday night at seven PM. Parents welcome, costumes required," she read. She looked up at Rick. "A Halloween party?"
He nodded. "Yup! My mom's throwing it for me. She says she wants to get to know all my friends and my friends' parents. You should come; it's gonna be fun. Nobody throws a better costume party than an actress!"
Kate looked down at the invite. "I dunno…did you invite Javi and Kevin?"
"Of course!" Rick said, nodding towards the boys, who were still deciphering the message on the cards. "You might have to read it to them, though."
Kate giggled. "What about Lanie? And Sidney?"
Rick smiled, holding up more invites. "I'm about to, actually. So, does that mean you'll come."
Kate shrugged. "It couldn't hurt. I gotta see what my mom says, though. She and Dad sometimes have plans around Halloween."
"Well, you can tell them that there are gonna be other adults there, too. My mom's actor friends are gonna be there and they're really funny. Plus, I'll be in costume, so that should be fun."
"What, Poe again?" Kate asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Pshaw, no!" Rick huffed. "You already saw me as Poe. I'm gonna be something completely different!"
"Like…?"
"You'll just have to show up and see," Rick said, winking and walking away as Montgomery called for them to take their seats.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Friday Night…
"Do I look okay?" Kate asked Johanna as they walked down the street, toward Rick's building. Johanna smiled at her.
"You look adorable, Katie," she said, looking down at her little girl, dressed as a zombie.
Kate frowned. "Mo-om! I'm supposed to be scary, not adorable!" She stuck out her tongue.
Jim laughed, picking her up. "Oh, yes!" He said, "You're a very scary little monster, Sweetheart." He kissed her cheek, making his lips turn green with the makeup. Kate rolled her eyes and laughed at him.
"You got some makeup on your lips, Daddy!" she giggled.
Jim chuckled and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "It was well worth it, Katie," he said as they entered the building.
Jim and Johanna Beckett had done the couples thing and dressed as Gomez and Morticia Addams. Johanna had wanted Kate to dress as Wednesday but she insisted on being a zombie because she said that Wednesday wasn't scary enough.
Johanna conceded and helped her daughter rip up old clothes and do her makeup for the occasion. She was almost as excited for the party as Kate seemed to be. She'd had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with Martha Rodgers and was curious to see what the eccentric actress would choose as her own costume and who else she invited to the party.
When they got to Martha and Rick's Loft apartment, Johanna and Jim could already tell that there were a lot of people there by the sounds that carried through the hallway.
Johanna knocked and was greeted by a small vampire, half hidden by his cape draped over his arm.
"Velcome!" he greeted, in character. "Velcome, von and all! Please, come in!"
He stepped aside, welcoming them inside. Johanna stopped to hug the little boy. "Hello, Richard," she said, kissing his forehead.
Rick pouted. "Who is this Richard you speak of? I am Count Dracula and I am going to suck your blood!" He bared a pair of veneer fangs, which made Kate gasp.
"Are those real?" she asked, peering at them.
Rick smiled. "Aren't they cool?" he asked, smiling. "Mom took me to this friend of hers who did them for free! Pretty neat, right?"
Kate nodded, impressed. "Cool. Hey, where are Javi and Kevin?"
"Javi's over by the candy bowl with Lanie. Kevin hasn't shown up yet. I hope he gets here soon, though. The movie's about to start!"
"You're showing movies, too?" Kate asked.
Rick nodded. "Yeah. Mom had a guy set up a projector in the living room so all the kids can watch Hitchcock's greatest thrillers. The first one is Psycho!"
"I never saw that one."
"It's great! It's about this really creepy guy named Norman Bates who owns a Motel! I can't tell you much without spoiling it but it has a great twist at the end."
Kate nods. "Sounds like a good book."
Rick nods. "Sorta like that. Come on, let's go get Lanie and Javi and get it started."
Kate followed Castle into the kitchen, where Lanie and Javier were sitting at the table, eating candy and drinking apple cider.
Lanie was dressed in bloody scrubs, a mask under her chin and her curly hair pulled back in pigtails. Javi was dressed like a Toy Soldier, painted green with a plastic helmet on his head.
"Hey!" he greeted as Rick and Kate entered. "Lookin' scary, Beckett!"
Kate grinned, showing off her painted rotting teeth. "Thanks, Jav. I wish I could say the same for you."
"Hey!" Javi protested. "Soldiers are scary! Ever see Small Soldiers?"
"You don't exactly look like Chip Hazard, Javi. You look more like the soldiers in Toy Story." Lanie and Rick laughed and Javi pouted.
"They're pretty scary," he mumbled under his breath, taking another sip of his cider.
Kate laughed and took a seat next to Lanie after getting her own drink and candy. Rick sat across from her.
"So where do you guys usually go trick-or-treating?" Rick asked.
"First we all go in our buildings, then our moms meet up and take us to Westchester," Kate explained.
"Really? Where in Westchester?" Rick asked.
"The Lower part. You know, close to home. Scarsdale, Bronxville, Eastchester…all the rich people have great candy," Javier said, grinning.
"There's a town in Westchester called Eastchester?" Rick asked.
Kate laughed. "Yeah, I know. Pretty weird, huh? You wanna come with us?"
"Really?" Rick asked.
"Yeah, why not? You got other plans?"
"Not really," Rick said. "My nanny usually takes me around the block, but a lot of the buildings around here don't open up to trick-or-treaters if they don't already live in the building."
"Well, all the houses in Westchester do," Javi said. "Well…most of them, anyway. You should come; it'll be fun."
Rick smiled. "Okay, that sounds like fun. I'm sure my mom won't mind. My nanny might be kind of mad, though. She usually gets paid extra for Halloween."
"Hey, guys!" A voice from the doorway made all four heads turn to Kevin, standing there, dressed as a…
"Aww, look; Kevin's a puppy!" Lanie exclaimed.
Kevin's face fell. "No, I'm not!" he argued. "I'm a werewolf!"
Rick grimaced. "Ooh, you might wanna fix your ears then. They look a little droopy."
Kevin narrowed his eyes at him and reached up, self-consciously, to fix his ears.
"A little bit better, but who did your makeup, Bro?" Javi asked. "Cause whoever it is gave you a smile."
Kevin sighed. "My mom did it. I knew she was trying to make me look cute!" He sat down at the end of the table, pouting.
"Don't worry, Kev," Kate said, "you look scary to me."
Kevin brightened a little at this. "Thanks, Kate!" he said. Rick could practically see his tail wag and had to look away to hide his smirk. Kate noticed and kicked him under the table.
"Ow!" Javi exclaimed. "Who kicked me?!"
Kate looked away and Lanie chuckled. Rick snorted, before turning back to his friends.
"Let's go see if the movie's ready, shall we?" They all nodded and hopped down from their seats, grabbing their candy and juice.
Javi turned to Kevin, holding out a piece of candy like a treat. "Let's go, Fido! Come on, boy!" He teased, before laughing and running away as Kevin chased him.
"Very funny, Javi!" Kevin yelled.
The couch was empty in the living room so all five squished on top of it. Kevin was on the end, with Javi next to him, Lanie next to him, then Kate, then Rick was on the other end.
"You guys ready?" he asked.
They all nodded, Javi lifting his glass of cider, and Rick pressed play, beginning the movie.
At one particularly scary scene, Kate got spooked and buried her face into Rick's shoulder. Rick smiled and patted her arm. "Come on, Kate, it's not that-" he let out a girly shriek that had the rest of his friends bursting into giggles. He cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I was just trying to make Kate feel better," he covered.
Kate smiled. "Mmhmm, riiight, Rick; whatever you say…"
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