Recap: A little girl was kidnapped and Castle's theory solved the case. Following Martha's advice, he decided he had to tell Beckett about the new evidence he'd found out about her mother's murder.
"It's about your mother." Beckett took a step back, her calves bumping on the waiting room chairs. This is it. Four words and she's already trying to get away from me. Castle glanced at his feet and began to speak, "I've found some new evidence." He looked up again to see Beckett wide-eyed and shaking her head, not wanting to believe the words coming out of his mouth. "Beckett, listen..."
"No." Castle stopped in his tracks as she firmly repeated herself. "No. I told you not to look at her file, but you did anyway." He opened his mouth to defend himself. "No. Leave, Castle. We're done. I don't want to see you again."
Castle hung his head, studying the flecks in the hospital floor tiles. He saw Beckett's feet move away from him and he lifted his eyes just enough to see her walk out the door. Shit. That was worse than I expected it to be. He felt his knees begin to give way and he reached out to the chairs to catch himself and he sat down carefully. I didn't even get to tell her anything about it.
He stood up and began to slowly walk away from the offending place where he'd just lost his battle to stay before it had really begun. He squinted as he emerged into the sunlight. I guess coming to the hospital when she's visiting Sorensen wasn't a great idea. The slimeball had to get himself shot didn't he, appeal to her sympathetic side. He kicked at a can on the sidewalk and took a stuttering breath before hailing a cab.
The next few days carried on in a productive, if unsatisfying, pattern. Scotch played a large role, as did Castle's laptop and Nikki Heat. The bags under his eyes grew darker but the word count grew higher and by the end of the week he had finally finished Heat Wave. The first, and only, book about Nikki Heat. As he looked over the last chapter, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. If Alexis hadn't walked into his study as the first sob threatened to claw its way out of his chest, it would have probably been the latter.
"Hey Dad." She gave him a small smile as she rounded his desk and leaned against the edge of it.
"Hey Pumpkin." His voice was strained and gravelly from too much scotch and not enough interaction with non-fictional humans.
"You need a break," Alexis stated. There would be no questioning it. He nodded. "It's Friday today, in case you'd lost track. I'm going to go to school and when I get back let's go to the Hamptons for the weekend."
Castle smiled, for what felt like the first time all week. "Great idea, Alexis." She smiled back and kissed his cheek.
"So now you need to go to bed and sleep off that alcohol so you can drive later. There's leftovers from last night's dinner in the fridge too."
He frowned, "There was dinner last night?"
Alexis stood up from the desk with a sigh and roll of her eyes, "Yes, there was. I did tell you, multiple times. You didn't emerge from here though, so I left you to it. I guess you were near the end." Castle cradled his head in his hands and his reply was muffled slightly.
"Yeah. Finished it. I'll print it off for you to read over the weekend." He yawned, and she was already halfway to the front door.
Her voice wafted through the loft, "Okay, see you later Dad!" Castle put his head down on his desk and slept.
What is that? Some kind of giant rhythmic bee? Right by my head, argh, get away from me! He swatted to the left of his head, causing papers to fly everywhere, along with his phone. Oh good, the bee has gone. The loft telephone started to ring, and Castle sat up quickly. Ow, fuck, my neck, euw drool everywhere. Oh, the phone. He reached over to pick the phone up.
"Castle," he answered groggily, wiping his chin with the back of his hand.
"Oh, you're there. I was beginning to wonder if you'd died." Oh great.
"Hello Gina. To what do I owe the pleasure of your scintillating conversation?" Ugh my mouth is so furry. Why has my ex-wife called? Can't she leave me alone?
"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me why you haven't given me your manuscript yet. You remember how it works, you write it, I publish it."
Oh right, of course, she's my publisher. How could I ever forget? "Yes, I am aware of how the publishing world works." He got up and walked through his bedroom into the bathroom, picked up the toothpaste and his electric toothbrush and began to brush his teeth.
"So...?"
"So, wha'?"
"Richard, are you brushing your teeth while you're on the phone with me?" He moved the phone so the receiver could really pick up the noise of the toothbrush.
"Yeff." There was an exasperated noise at the other end of the line.
"For God's sake, Richard! Have you, or have you not finished the book."
"Yeff."
"Yes, you've finished it, or yes you have not finished it?!"
"The firff one."
Huh, that shut her up. He finished up at the sink before continuing.
"I'm just checking through the last couple of chapters, and I'll send it over on Monday."
"Monday? Why not today?"
"Because I'm going to take Alexis away for the weekend." He moved back to the bedroom and into the closet. "She wants to get out of the city for a couple of days." And so do I. He picked out some clean clothes and a bag and cradled the phone against his shoulder so he could pack.
"Well, alright then." Thank you for giving your permission, oh great monitor of my life. "Don't forget on Monday though."
"Yes, Gina. Thank you, Gina. I'll speak to you next week, Gina." He could hear the frustration at him practically oozing out of her.
"There's no need to be sarcastic with me, Richard. I'll call you on Monday." She hung up and his stomach growled. Hmm, wonder what those leftovers are.
Castle lay spreadeagled on the beach with only a pair of shorts and a layer of suncream to protect him against the baking hot sun. He began to snore and Alexis, who was sensibly sitting under a parasol as she read his first draft manuscript, took that as her cue to get him to roll over, so at least he'd be evenly pink all over.
"Dad." The snoring continued. "Dad!" He snorted, What? Huh?
"Yes?"
"Roll over so you can be lobster-coloured on both sides."
"But lobsters are blue."
"Not when they're cooked, and you're roasting."
"Ha ha, very funny," he replied mockingly, as he rolled over on the blanket. "Besides, I haven't turned pink."
"Oooh, just you wait until you see your face in a mirror..."
He zoned back into the conference call he was obliged to be listening to, as his publicist's voice rattled on, "So, Cosmo want to interview you for the new book, seeing as it's a female character. They want to do it at the police station, so I've spoken to the guy in charge there, what's his name? Montgomery? Whatever, he says it's fine, so I've put it into your diary."
Castle blinked. A magazine wants me to go do an interview for them at the precinct? And I'm supposed to talk about Kate when she's right there?
"They wanna talk to the detective too."
"Woah, Paula, hang on a second. Beckett's not even talking to me at the moment, so how the hell do you think she's going to like this little stunt?"
"You say it like she has a choice in the matter, Ricky."
He sighed and shut his eyes. "Okay. But I'm not happy about it."
"You don't have to be happy about it, but you do have to be nice to the reporter. And the photographer. And the models."
He groaned and laid his forehead on his desk. Oh God, why...
The photoshoot, as predicted, had been atrocious. Not that it was difficult standing and making stupid faces for a photographer, but doing that with those two models feeling him up, and knowing Beckett was watching with her 'I'm-judging-you-Castle' glare on? It was just too much. At least she let me stay for the case. He rubbed his forehead to soothe the burgeoning headache, and decided to check the scroll.
He listened for the telltale sounds of movement in the loft before cautiously opening the drawer and lifting the box from within. He unlocked the box and peeked inside. Still there. He picked the scroll out with slightly trembling fingers. Please let there be a new message.
There was no new message. But it had changed from when he'd last looked at it. Now it was blank. Castle frowned, but at the sound of the front door slamming shut the frown turned to surprise. He tried to hide the scroll away but Alexis was already halfway across the office before he could shut the box.
She stood like a statue in the middle of the room, her half-formed sentence dying on her lips before she knew what the end of it would be. "Dad, are-...?"
Rick looked sheepishly up at his daughter, "How was your date, Alexis?" Her eyes flicked from the box up to meet his and then returned to the box.
"What's that?"
Well, shit. "I... um..." He took a deep breath, "Alexis, it's not something I ever thought I'd have to tell you about, so I'm not really sure how to explain."
"Dad, you're scaring me. Just show me it, whatever it is." No, it won't make any sense!
"I... Alexis..."
"No, Dad. Show me." The force in her voice made him blink. "Please." He looked back down at the box and nodded.
"Okay."
Alexis moved round to stand next to him behind his desk as he opened the box again.
"It's a scroll. It... appeared... last year. The night of the 'Storm Fall' launch party." Alexis reverently picked it out of the box and unfurled it, while Castle fiddled with the silk ribbon.
"It's blank." He nodded.
"It wasn't when it appeared."
"So, you're saying there are usually words on it?" He nodded again. "And these words are... what, exactly?"
"Messages. From God."
Alexis dropped all pretence of belief, her tone indignant, "Dad, seriously? Messages from God."
"Yes," he whispered, watching the scroll. Alexis gasped as the scroll began to sparkle, golden twinkles and stars floating around it. "And the main point of them is that... I'm Beckett's guardian angel."
"You're... her guardian angel...?" Rick watched Alexis carefully, while she hadn't been able to tear her eyes away from the scroll. Is she taking this in? Or does she think I'm joking... "Dad, Dad! Look, there are words forming!" Wait, words?!
He jumped up and looked over her shoulder at the scroll, eagerly awaiting the message.
"Alexis has the answer."
"That's... short."
"They usually are. I guess God doesn't have time to waste on explaining things."
"What do I have the answer to?" Rick looked at the words once more then looked up at his daughter before enveloping her in a hug.
"I don't know. Let's not worry about it. Maybe if we gaze into the fridge it will tell us." She nodded against his chest and carefully put the scroll into its box. "Tell me about your date with Owen."
They wandered into the kitchen, arm in arm. "Ugh, what date? He stood me up! And he didn't even apologise! Why can't boys ever just say they're sorry, why do they have to make up a reason for everything?" She opened the fridge but Castle had stopped a few steps behind, rooted in place.
That's it. "That's it! You have the answer!" Alexis turned and looked at her dad with confusion all over her face.
"The answer to what?"
"I'll tell you when I get back." He rushed to kiss her forehead, then ran out of the loft. Got to apologise to Beckett, before it's too late. Please let this work, this has to work, please let Alexis be right.
He tried to walk purposefully into the precinct but he was so nervous he nearly tripped on the floorboards. Get it together, Rick, for crying out loud. But he saw Beckett at her desk and the nerves disappeared. The words were on the tip of his tongue, ready to be presented and spoken and offered up to her in a way he'd never thought words would or could be given to anyone.
He apologised. I've apologised, dammit, why isn't she acknowledging me? He hung his head and walked away.
"Castle?" He stopped and turned to face her. "See you tomorrow."
Alexis was right.
A/N: This week's chapter was being reclusive, and I wrote a whole other fic in the meantime (it's called Cooking Up A Storm, it's fluffy and fun, and has food in it), but I've managed to get it done :) hope you like it. See you next week!