Jim Beckett in the Night
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: No, don't own Castle. Rating: K. Time: Pre-wedding
Castle was deep in his writing zone when the sound of knocking at his door penetrated his consciousness. Could that be Kate? He wondered. Did she forget her key?
He quickly went to the door. "Jim! What are you doing here? Come in, please. Make yourself at home. What can I do for you?"
"Rick, is Katie here?"
"No, she's at the precinct catching up on paperwork. She should be back in maybe another hour. You're more than welcome to wait for her."
"Actually, it's you I wanted to talk to. Do you have time?"
"Sure, sure. Always. What do you need?"
"Your wedding date is drawing nearer and according to Katie, you haven't brought up the subject of a pre-nuptial agreement. Is that correct?"
"I haven't and I won't."
"I beg your pardon? Are you saying you won't have a pre-nuptial agreement? Not at all? That's…unusual for a man in your position."
"That's exactly what I said. And I'm an unusual man."
Jim shook his head. "I came over here tonight to give you a few ideas that I have. My specialty as an attorney isn't pre-nups by any means, but I'm not unfamiliar with them." Jim looked at Castle and then spoke. "I realize that I'm Katie's father and that you have your own attorney, but is that wise? You're a very wealthy man, you have other family obligations, and at the risk of being insensitive, you do have two prior unsuccessful marriages."
"I'm not offended, but I can explain. One thing about my two prior marriages, is that it gives me a perspective. I didn't feel about either Meredith or Gina the way I feel about Kate. There's no comparison. I will be married to Kate for the rest of my life, therefore, no need for a pre-nup."
"As far as my other obligations, I've already set up trust funds for Alexis and my mother. While I do want them both to be comfortable, on the other hand, I don't want Alexis especially to become one of those trust fund babies who drift through life never doing anything but spending money. As for my mother, that's more complicated, but suffice it to say that she'll be well taken care of no matter what."
"Lastly, I don't believe in pre-nuptial agreements. They're for people who value things above people. I never had a pre-nup with Meredith, and when we got divorced it did cost me a lot of money. So I wrote some more books and made the money back, and then some. The same when I married Gina. No pre-nup. And it cost me a lot of money, which I've more than made up for. If it comes to that, I'd rather that Kate get everything I have rather than go into a marriage thinking about how the assets will be split up."
"And, I'm sure in my own mind that if there is a divorce, which I don't believe for a second, I'm sure it will be my fault and Kate will deserve everything she gets."
Jim slowly shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure I understand, but I see that you've given this a lot of thought. So, there's no way I can change your mind?"
"None at all."
Jim held out his hand. "In that case, I'm happy to have you in the family, Rick. Now I think I should leave before Katie gets home and finds out I've been interfering in her affairs."
Rick walked Jim to the door and then he turned around to see his fiancé peeking around their bedroom door.
"You were here?"
Kate nodded. "When I came in, you were so involved in writing, you didn't notice me. At first I was a little disappointed, but I decided to surprise you. It turns out I was the one who was surprised." Kate walked to him and kissed him. "You know I don't care about the money."
"I know. I think it was more of an impediment than a help in us getting together. "
"And we are together, Castle."
"Always."