Kate Beckett was as nervous as a teenage girl waiting for her first date to arrive. She paced the loft so quickly that Castle was starting to feel like he was watching her do wind sprints. Finally, he could stand it no longer, and Castle stood in the middle of the groove that his girlfriend was slowly working into his floor. "Kate," he chuckled as he grabbed her hands, forcing her to stop moving and focus her attentions on him. "Will you *relax*?! Everything is going to be *fine*..."
Beckett opened her mouth to speak, then, not knowing what to say, shut her mouth again, walked around Castle and resumed her pacing. Castle rolled his eyes, then moved out of his girlfriend's way and poured himself a scotch.
As the amber-colored liquid settled back in the glass and the crystal cleared his eyes, Castle noticed that Beckett has finally stopped pacing, glaring at him with her hands crossed across her chest. "Is that how you prep for *all* your interviews, Rick?" she asked with a skeptically raised eyebrow.
Castle replied with a smirk. "You have your coping mechanisms, Kate; I have mine."
A knock on the door pulled the couple's attention from their budding argument, and Beckett opened it to discover Paula at the door...with an entourage. "Good morning, Paula," Kate greeted her, "are you here to watch the interview?"
Paula nodded, holding up her hands in a gesture of innocence. "Just to make sure that Oprah stays within the guidelines we sent her, nothing more."
Skeptical of the publicist's answer, Beckett motioned to the three women surrounding Paula. "And what about your friends?"
"Oh they're not here for me," Paula countered, "they're here for you."
Beckett's eyes widened in nervous surprise. "For me?"
Paula nodded again, pointing to each of the three women in turn. "Stylist, hair and makeup. I told you my job is to make sure you get through this in the best possible light. And *this*, Detective Beckett, is all part of the service."
Beckett stared at the four-woman professional support system who, she could only assume, were being paid extremely well to make sure she had the best possible experience in the public eye. The least she could do is not stand in their way. Beckett stood back, holding the door open and abandoning herself to her fate. "Won't you come in..."
The loft felt like it was slowly being overtaken by lights, camera equipment, and television monitors. Martha kept to the back of the apartment as she came down the stairs, quickly realizing that the only safe place, for the moment, was probably the kitchen. And it was in that kitchen that she found her son cooking up a storm. "Richard?" she asked, approaching him carefully, "Where's Kate?"
Castle tilted his head toward his bedroom as he pulled a batch of biscuits out of the oven, putting the finishing touches on an enormous brunch spread. "Paula brought a crew with her to help Kate get ready for today."
Martha took in the full scene in front of her, studying her son's expression carefully. "Are you doing okay, kiddo?"
Castle nodded as he fixed himself a plate. "Yeah...why do you ask?"
"You never cook this much unless you're *really* nervous."
Castle sighed, knowing he had nothing left to hide behind. "I *am* nervous, mother. For Kate. This whole thing has been kind of a 'thrown in the deep end' introduction to living in the public eye, and if this doesn't go well..."
It didn't take a rocket scientist for Martha to know what was scaring her son. "You're afraid she'll break up with you if this goes badly."
Castle reluctantly, quietly, nodded. Martha smiled, rubbing her son's back in a gesture of gentle reassurance. "Oh, Richard," she began quietly, "if I know anything about Kate Beckett, I know that she's not one to run from a challenge...*any* challenge. She's known you a long time, and was a fan of yours long before that. She knew what she was getting into, and as private as the two of you have tried to be since you started dating, Kate had to have known this was coming. She'll be *fine*."
"Thank you, mother," Castle responded with a smile and a hug. "It's just...just that..."
Martha pulled away from the embrace just enough to rub her son's arm in a gesture of deeper support. "I know, kiddo...I know. Remember when I told you I stopped getting emotionally involved over your girlfriends?" When Castle nodded, Martha smiled in a way that spoke of how proud she was of her son's new level of maturity. "That stopped being the case about six months ago..."
Castle's eyes lit up as he realized who his mother was talking about. Then the door to the master bedroom opened. It was an action that Castle caught out of the corner of his eye, and he separated from his mother's embrace to watch as Beckett slowly, nervously re-entered the living room.
Martha watched her son's eyes light up in the way that was reserved *only* for Kate Beckett. "Get over there, kiddo," she nudged with a loving smile.
Castle smiled, dancing around the maze of cables until he was close enough to reach his girlfriend's hand, caressing it gently in his own. "You look beautiful."
Beckett smiled and blushed, her eyes lighting up in a way that was saved only for him. Out of the corner of his eye, Castle noticed his girlfriend's fairy god-entourage smiling, sighing...and was that giggling?...over their interactions with each other. He turned back toward the living room, one hand never leaving his girlfriend's. "Would you like something to eat?" he asked. "I made brunch."
The couple headed toward the kitchen when they were detoured by a knock at the door. Never letting go of Beckett's hand, Castle opened the door...
...and came face-to-face with Oprah Winfrey.
Am I stalling? Heck yeah I'm stalling. Turns out it's harder to impersonate the Queen of All Media than it looks. Ask Katie Couric. ;-) Anyway, the big problem I'm having is that I'm blocked on writing the interview. I asked a very popular writer on this site to give me a hand, and while she has graciously agreed to help me, I figured I'd write up the pre-interview in the hopes of starting to get over this writer's block.
The good news is that I'm focused right now (where my writing is concerned) mostly on finishing this story. I will warn you, though, that I'm only planning two more chapters: the Oprah interview and the red carpet for the Nikki Heat movie premiere.
After that, I'm going to launch full-on into the last story of the Four Winds series. I've warned you guys from the beginning that that series is my heart and priority where it comes to my writing. If you haven't read any of it, check my author page. It's definitely an eccentric adventure, (picture the world of the show, but with the top 5 of the Castle gang having supernatural powers and the bad guys being amped up to, well, appropriately magical levels) but I've had an absolute blast writing it and, well, if the comments I've gotten are any indication, it's a lot of fun to read as well.
Anyway...feel free to leave comments; I always love to hear from you guys. Have a great day!
