Author's Note:
Hey guys! Big thanks to jag389 and glo1196 for their reviews. :) I really appreciated your thoughts, and am glad that you're enjoying this fic so far.
Thanks so much for reviewing!
And thanks to everyone else who are reading this and added to Story Alerts – I think you're still here...You're all still out there, right? *crickets*
Anyway, here's the next chapter, just a very short 1000word transitional one. It was going to be called "What are we now?" But I've changed it to "You Talk Too Much." I made this one differently. It's sort of a song fic moment within a fic, and refers to the Clarence Carter song. As usual, I don't own Castle, OR the song "You Talk Too Much." It belongs to Joe Jones, Clarence Carter and all those corporately affiliated with them. No copyright infringement intended.
It starts with Jim Beckett's POV, and will end with Castle's.
Chapter 6: You Talk Too Much.
Jim Beckett's POV
I dreamt that night, for the first time in years.
I dreamt that our family was together again, and that death, injury and alcoholism hadn't tarnished it.
Kate was up and around, tearing around as usual. The brave, but practical and brilliant child she always was. Not afraid of anything but the dark. Even then she wasn't afraid to face her fears. She was afraid of the dark, but refused to use a nightlight. Not even a comforting teddy bear. Instead she stared down the dark and dared it to harm her. She would wake up every morning an undefeated champion, undeniably proud of herself for conquering her fear even if she would never admit it. I'd never met a child as brave and self-fulfilling as our Kate.
Johanna, my beautiful wife, was alive. Some days, I can barely remember what she looks like, but in the dream, her face, her body, her spirit was as alive and vivid as it could be. Memories came floating back to me, like they'd never left me. She was such a good wife, and an amazing mother. The sound of her laugh was like music. The touch of her skin was like silk. She would do anything for me or Katie, and was a pillar of strength in our household.
Our son was alive. The son that we never told Kate about. We didn't tell her because we were so heartbroken when cancer took him at the tender age of two. We didn't want her to be heartbroken, like we were. We still kept his pictures around the house, told Kate that he was our godson, and that was it. If she'd ever asked about him, she had been satisfied with that answer. I felt bad for keeping it from her, and I planned to tell her after she woke up. Maybe the next day. Keeping secrets was exhausting, especially when it was from the person I loved most in the world.
I saw our life flashing before my eyes, as if I was the one that had died.
I saw the day Johanna and I first met. In the college library, freshman year. We were both serious students. Both extremely nervous, but optimistic, just as any new university student would be. I remembered being amazed by her brilliance (she had a stack of heavy law books beside her, and was devouring them quicker than any mere mortal I'd ever seen) and astounded by her beauty, weeks before I was brave enough to talk to her. I watched her for some time, and the first thing she said to me was, "What?" Apparently watching her read was creepy. So I worked up the courage to talk to her, and asked her what she was reading, what she was studying, and what she wanted to be. I would come and talk to her every day, and eventually the polite library conversations about school became more personal conversations. Who we were. What we dreamed about. What our families were like. Who we wanted to be. Those deep, personal conversations graduated to weekly dinners at the most romantic restaurant in town. We hit it off, and were engaged on our graduation day.
I recalled our wedding, I remembered our honeymoon in Siena, Italy. That was the most fun I'd ever had in my life.
The day she told me she was pregnant for the first time. With our first child. Our son, Little James. LJ for short. Completely like Johanna in looks and personality, despite being all boy, and named after me. Perfectly healthy, strong, and beautiful. Then, five years after LJ, Katie's birth. April 26th, 33 years ago. Katherine Siena. Beautiful and smart, just like her mother. Stubborn and passionate, just like me.
I watched us grow up together. Our children, both growing, thriving. Always happy. Always together. No losses, no deaths, no sickness, no funerals. I didn't have to bury my first child. I didn't have to keep his existence from Katie. My Johanna didn't die. My Kate didn't get injured. She grew up to be the first female president of the United States of America. A job that she was also great at. A job that required her to be protected at all times from anyone who would wish her harm. Not that anyone ever did.
I saw us grow older and older, and we were still alive when I woke up, and was forced back into reality.
We'd lost LJ.
We'd lost Johanna.
I'd almost drunk myself to death.
I'd almost lost Kate, but she was still a target.
If only I'd never woken up.
Castle's POV
Once I was positive that Mr. Beckett was fast asleep and that I wouldn't bother him, I began to sing, as I kept watch over you, knowing you were safe, and healing.
I thought of the fact that we had a song. You said it yourself, we had a song together. Sure, it was a song that you dedicated to me simply for being my annoying self, but at the same time, it was a song that we shared together, so it meant the world to me. I loved to sing, but I only sang in front of my family, and that one time in the twelfth, when we sang The Piano Man. That was the twelfth precinct song that we all shared together. I still can't listen to that song to this day without getting misty.
So I took a deep breath, channeled Clarence Carter, and sang to you.
"You talk too much, you worry me to death,
You talk too much, you even worry my pet.
You just taaaaaaaaaalk, talk too much.
You talk about people that you don't know.
You talk about people wherever you go.
You just taaaaaaaaaalk, talk too much.
You talk about people that you've never seen.
You talk about people, you can make me scream.
You just taaaaaaaaaalk, talk too much."
I held your hand (the one with your mother's ring, not Josh's ring), and squeezed it gently.
Hang in there Kate. I'm here for you. And I'm not going anywhere.
I thought I felt you twitch, but it could have just been my own shaking hands.
I sensed you were getting stronger by the minute. I stayed up with you all night, singing and talking to you, waiting for you to open your eyes with more enthusiasm than accompanies a little kid waiting for Christmas.
I couldn't wait to see you open your eyes. I couldn't wait to hear your voice again.
I couldn't even wait for you to insult me again.
Because I loved you, and the possibility of you coming back was more than I could ever hope for.
Even if you would continue to put your life in danger. Even if you were with Josh. Even if you didn't love me back.
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading! Feel free to share your thoughts, if you're still reading this. Next chapter should be bigger. Bigger, meatier and better. Hope you liked this!