A/N: I don't know about you, but I have (what feels like) hundreds of stories on alert, and sometimes it's difficult to remember which one's which when you open four or five at once as I tend to, so here's a quick recap:
Last week, Castle saved Beckett with a bottle of champagne and started crafting drunken poetry about her frown. The text on his scroll changed itself to reveal a new message, which confused him, but he took the hint and started looking online for bullet-proof vests.
Wow, I hope the little girl's parents don't walk in here to get an eyeful of this. Castle cleared his throat and plastered a smirk across his face. "Relations between the NYPD and the FBI have reached an all-time high, I see."
Beckett hardly knew where to look and Sorensen seemed to be throwing invisible ninja stars at Castle's head with his eyes. She began to stammer out some kind of explanation, but Castle interrupted, "You're both consenting adults, who you kiss and where has nothing to do with me..." Though I wish you wouldn't do it here, in front of me, it's like an exquisite torture, Beckett, you kissing some other guy... where the hell did that come from?! Shut up, Rick, shut-up-shut- up-shut-up. "Here, I brought you a coffee."
Beckett's blush began to fade, but she still looked sheepish as she took the coffee cup with a quiet smile. "Thanks, Castle." He smiled in reply.
"So how's it going here?" He took a sip of his own coffee and looked through the kitchen doorway into the main living area of the apartment where the parents of the abducted child were huddled on the sofa.
"Not great, actually." Beckett looked at Castle and from the corner of his eye he could see she was beginning to observe him the way he observed her. Try as he might, he couldn't hide the sympathetic worry that had settled on his shoulders and onto his forehead. She turned to Sorensen, "Let's leave the tech guys to get set up, go back to the precinct and see what Ryan and Esposito have for us." Sorensen nodded and left the room without a word, leaving the writer with his muse. "Castle?" I just don't understand why their little girl's been taken. And they're just sitting there not doing anything. If it was Alexis, I... "Castle." He looked at Beckett, she gave him a soft smile, "Come on."
"I need you to go home." What?! No, come on Beckett, this isn't fair. And did you have to do this in the middle of the bullpen?
"No. There must be something I can do here to help."
"Castle! Go. Home." Seriously? Oh, she is really serious. He let out a long sigh.
"Fine." Castle stepped into her personal space, and just as she tried to step backwards he lowered his voice so only she could hear, "But if you need me, call me. Even if it's just to talk." Tell me you need me, Beckett. "Okay?"
She nodded slightly and replied with a quiet, "Okay," so he picked up his coat and strode out of the bullpen and into the elevator without looking back.
Two yellow cabs pulled up at the corner of Broome and Crosby. Castle laughed as he hopped out of the foremost car, "Hey Pumpkin!" Alexis waved back at him. "Did you have enough money?" He hadn't put his wallet back in his pocket yet.
"Yeah, Dad, I paid," she linked arms with him and they walked into the building together.
"How was school?" Alexis started to tell him about her classes and what she and her friends had got up to over the day. He tried to keep an interested smile on his face but it had become strained by the time they got into the loft. What if that family don't get to do this in ten years' time? That poor little girl, she must be so scared.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Hmm? He looked up at Alexis who'd already made it into the kitchen while he was still stood by the door fiddling with his coat. "I just told you I'm pregnant, and got nothing. So what's going on?"
He walked over to her, put his coat over the back of one of the stools and sat down with a heavy sigh. "It's the case." Alexis turned from concerned to resigned in the mere shift of weight from one foot to the other. She placed her hands on the countertop and waited. She knows there's a story. There's always a story. "A little girl was kidnapped."
"Oh no..." Castle looked so dejected, she moved around the kitchen island to give her dad a hug. "Why is Beckett on the case if it's not a murder investigation?" Castle sighed again. Guess I might as well tell her all of it.
"Well, the FBI are in charge, but Beckett's assistance was requested by the guy leading the case." He's so slimy. "He's a complete slimeball, and to make it worse he's Beckett's ex-boyfriend."
"Her ex-boyfriend?!" I know, right? His eyebrow tilted up slightly. "Sounds a bit... intimate."
"Yeah. And apparently they worked a child kidnapping case before, except it didn't have a happy ending." Alexis dropped her forehead to Castle's shoulder. "So she sent me home early."
"She did?" He nodded and stroked his daughter's hair. "I'm glad."
"Me too, Pumpkin." Me too. But that poor little girl, with nothing to comfort her... "Alexis, where's Monkey Bunkey?" She looked up at him.
"He's upstairs in my room, on the shelf. Why?" He shrugged.
"Just had an idea. Might be nothing." I'll come back to that thought later. "What d'you want for dinner?"
"Spaghetti please!" They both smiled, and Castle got up and started to cook.
"Hey guys, help yourselves," Castle appeared around midnight with enough coffee and sugary treats to placate a dozen tired cops and feds. While the gannets descended, he disappeared towards the other side of the apartment where the little girl's bedroom was, and carefully pushed the door open.
I knew this pocket LED torch would come in useful some day. He moved towards the bed and started hunting around on his knees. It must be here somewhere...
"Castle...?"
Is that... "Beckett?" He straightened up and moved his torch in the direction of her voice, the beam of light shining directly in her eyes before he quickly diverted it. "Oh, sorry. What're you doing here?"
She sat up a little, her jacket dropping down from its precarious perch over her front, and groggily replied, "I could ask you the same question."
Hmm, fair point. "Well..." He told her about Alexis and Monkey Bunkey and how inseparable they'd always been, and how he'd seen that in the photographs of the little girl she always had the same stuffed animal with her. Kinda wish it wasn't so dark so that I could see your face, Beckett, I know you go all mushy when I talk about Alexis. I should thank that kid for being such a great icebreaker someday.
"Let's go find that rabbit, so we can find Angela."
"Actually, sir, it was Castle's insight that turned the case around." Woah, woah, wait. Did Kate Beckett just compliment me? She turned her head to give him a small smile. Holy crap, she did! Castle puffed his chest out proudly and tried (and failed) not to grin too much. Roy clapped him on the shoulder and smiled at Beckett as he returned to his office. Beckett narrowed her eyes and looked at Castle, her smile growing a little. "You gonna do the paperwork, then?"
Yeah, right. "Actually, I need to get home so I can tell Alexis the good news," he grinned smugly at her eye-roll. "Besides, if I wrote the reports, you'd only have to check them over to make sure I didn't put any aliens or zombies in to make them more interesting." That quip earned him a sharp laugh she couldn't quite hold in. Hah, I'm on a roll today. "Until tomorrow, Detective."
"See you, Castle."
When the elevator doors shut, he let the mask of his smile slip away and leaned back against the cold metal. I don't know how much longer I can keep from telling her about her mom. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. But if I tell her, she'll kick me out and how will I keep to the scroll? The elevator pinged before the sob of desperation that threatened to escape his chest could get the better of him. I can't tell her. I just can't. She needs me... and I need her. He stepped out into the afternoon light with a grim determination set into his face.
He sat at his desk staring at the front cover of the closed file. Time passed around him, the sun moved behind the tall buildings to throw long shadows into the office. Martha leaned against the door frame and watched him for a few minutes. He didn't move, barely even blinked, his shoulders sagging, his chest rising and falling with only shallow breaths as if he had become immobilised by the thoughts spinning around his head. Except there weren't any thoughts spinning around. He'd given up trying to think and let his mind go completely blank, in the hope the file might provide some inspiration by the power of osmosis. Or something.
"You should tell her."
He didn't look up, didn't even acknowledge his mother's presence. He wasn't ready to have this conversation with anyone other than himself. And he wasn't sure he was ready to even do that.
"Richard..."
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out on a slow exhale. Martha released the breath she didn't realise she was holding in. Mother, please...
"Richard." The tone in her voice made him snap his eyes open and he looked straight at her. "When are you going to take responsibility for your actions? You shouldn't have looked at her mother's file, but you did. You shouldn't have given the file to your doctor friend to look at, but you did. You shouldn't have started meddling in the poor woman's life. But you did." She fixed him with a cold glare and he swallowed nervously. "You have to tell her."
"She'll never talk to me again."
"You should have thought about that before you started digging."
"Mother..."
"No, Richard. You will face the music." He looked back down at the file and rested his hands on either side of it. He nodded, almost imperceptibly. "Good." Martha pushed off from the door frame and walked to his side so she could place her hand on his shoulder and kiss his hair before she made to leave the office.
He spoke up as she passed through the door, "What about the scroll?" She turned.
"What about it?"
Yeah, Rick, what about it? He opened his desk drawer and got the scroll out from its hiding place. The words had changed since he had last looked and his eyes widened as he read them. Martha came over to read with him, a confused frown on her face.
"It's changed..." He nodded.
"This isn't the first time it's changed." They shared a loaded glance before looking back at the scroll to re-read it.
"Take the chance while you still have the choice."
A/N: Happy birthday to me! See you next week :)