Another chapter finally done. My muse has been really fickle this week. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to get this chapter done today until I started writing.
Disclaimer: What to say, what to say... If I owned this wonderful show, I would live in L.A. I don't-I haven't even visited there in over a decade-so I must not own Castle. Darn it.
Was it real this time?
Those were the only thoughts that could make it past Lizzie's suddenly over-stimulated brain. She hardly dared to hope. Over the last season of her favorite show, Lizzie's hopes had risen only to be dashed time after time. By the time the third season finale aired, her hope that Caskett would FINALLY get together had dwindled down to nothing. She had been stunned when she'd learned from one of her friends that lived in the southeastern part of the US (which meant that she was able to watch the show hours before Lizzie could) that Castle had told Beckett he loved her, not once but twice! As much as she had pleaded, her friend wouldn't give her any more information than that, so when Lizzie had learned that it wasn't until the detective had been shot that the writer had uttered the most important of declarations, Lizzie had been livid. She just knew that somehow the pair was going to act like the words had never been spoken. Proof had come in the form of spoiler interviews with Andrew Marlowe that she had read the next day. Lizzie was usually the type that watched episodes over and over, but during the four-month break, Lizzie hadn't re-watched the season finale even once. She hadn't even gone to YouTube to hear Castle's declaration over and over, as she was sure most other shippers had.
Lizzie felt lightheaded by the time the kiss finally ended. It took her a second to realize that was because she had forgotten to breathe. And although Lizzie hadn't brought a stopwatch to time the kiss, she was fairly certain this latest kiss had lasted at least twice as long as the second (and longer) undercover one had.
There was a beat of silence after the kiss ended, one in which each shipper clearly heard what sounded like a whimper of protest escape Beckett's lips.
Lizzie didn't care that it didn't make sense that she could hear such a small sound when she was standing so far away. She was just glad that she could hear pretty much everything that went on in front of the precinct as well as if she was still watching it on television. And if that reaction from Kate was real...
Apparently the rest of the shippers were of the same mind. The cheer from the crowd was deafening. Lizzie looked over at Nat to see that the other girl had tears in her eyes.
"So do you think it was real this time?" Nat whispered.
As she always did, Lizzie had watched for nuances during the kiss that would give her clues about what was really going on in the hearts and minds of Caskett.
"Well, Castle did mention giving the fans what they wanted," Lizzie whispered back, figuring that she'd get the 'proof' against a real kiss out of the way first.
"If that was the only reason he did it, he shouldn't have bothered," was Nat's response to that, irritation dripping from each word.
Lizzie couldn't argue with that. As much as she was elated to see a Caskett kiss, to have it be merely for show was more than she could take at the moment.
"But Beckett sure didn't seem to want the kiss to end," Nat continued after a moment's thought.
"And you know it would be real for Castle, regardless of why he did it," Lizzie pointed out.
Suddenly someone bumped into Nat, causing her to bump into Lizzie. The two girls turned to see who had dared to interrupt such an important conversation. It didn't take more than a moment for the girls' anger to drain away, once they realized what was going on: the girl that had bumped into Nat was in a heated argument with a group of other girls about the very topic Nat and Lizzie had been discussing.
"Grace, you're crazy!" KT snapped. She was standing to Grace's immediate right and had an expression on her face that clearly showed her exasperation with her friend. "There is no way that kiss was real!"
"Of course it was!" Cait, standing to the other side of KT, backed up Grace. "Didn't you hear Beckett's reaction after Castle pulled away?"
"Guys, come on," Abby said, "What does it matter? They kissed, isn't that enough?"
"NO!" was the heated response. Grace, Cait, and KT didn't want to waste one second giving credence to that idea.
"But is it really worth arguing over?" Emma asked.
"YES!" Grace, Cait and KT didn't hesitate to respond.
"I bet you $20 that the kiss was real," Grace said, pulling two ten-dollar bills out of her pocket.
"Fine," KT said and pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her own pocket, "then I bet you $20 that it wasn't."
"How are you going to find out, though?" Abby asked.
"Simple, we'll just ask them," Grace said.
"And how is that supposed to work?" Emma wanted to know. "Do you really think they'd tell us, even if they could hear us from clear back here?"
A sly smile formed on KT's lips. "I think we just found a way," she said and leaned over to ask Lizzie, "So what's your bet? $20 for or against the kiss being real?"
Lizzie wasn't quite sure what to say, mostly because she didn't have any money with her. But Nat, who had been on her way to buy groceries when she had suddenly found herself in front of the 4th wall over an hour ago, quickly said, "Put Lizzie and I down for $20 each that the kiss was real." In response to Lizzie's startled look, she said, "Just put me in your next fan fic and we'll call it even."
Lizzie grinned and said to KT, "The kiss was definitely real."
"Who else wants to be in on the bet?" KT asked, rolling her eyes at Lizzie.
Shouts of "Me! Me! Me!" rippled throughout the crowd. Less than a minute later the betting had spread throughout the crowd. To make the betting go smoothly, people started saying either "For" meaning that the kiss was real, or "Against," which meant that it wasn't. The ones that felt the kiss was real folded their bills in half; those that felt the kiss was a fake left their bills lying flat. A flurry of hands kept the money continuously piling up in KT's arms. Grace and Cait quickly took over the job of sorting the bills, putting the folded money in Emma's arms and the unfolded money in Abby's.
Now the crowd only had to wait for Caskett to reveal the truth.
"Put me down for $1,000 that the kiss was real," Lanie's voice rang out clearly. Mir, who had taken over collecting the money in the rows closest to the group in front of the precinct beamed at the M.E. as she took the money the dark-haired woman handed to her. The news that Lanie had placed a bet spread rapidly as the money was handed back.
"Lanie!" Kate gasped. She hadn't been entirely surprised when the shippers started placing bets on the kiss, but she was shocked that Lanie would join in.
"Don't give me that, girl," Lanie replied. "Look at you! You wouldn't even be able to stand if Writer Boy wasn't holding you up."
Kate could do nothing more than stare at Lanie in shock, largely because her best friend was right. As soon as Rick's lips had touched hers, everything else had faded away for Kate. The detective wasn't totally against PDA's (after all, she had kissed both Demming and Josh at the precinct) but she couldn't imagine ever being comfortable kissing the man in front of his mother and daughter, not to mention the crowd that she knew was watching her every move and hanging on her every word. But as soon as Rick's arms had wrapped around her the man had her complete and undivided attention. With all of the emotions that she'd been dealing with since she had been shot, Kate found that her powers of resistance were seriously compromised. The last time they had kissed, she'd been able to keep her mind largely on the task at hand-well, except for those last few seconds when she'd let that mortifying moan escape. This time all she could think was that she wanted more-more of his arms around her, more of his kisses, more of those intense looks, more of him. At that moment, Kate doubted whether she'd ever get enough, even if they both lived more than one hundred years.
"She's right, dear," Martha's voice pulled Kate from her thoughts. "Put me down for $1,000," the actress said to Mir. She handed the money to the girl and then said to Kate, "I know my boy, and that kiss was definitely real for him, too."
"She's got me there," Rick whispered in Kate's ear, the feeling of his lips so close to her skin making Kate shiver. "The question is, was it real for you, too?"
"Castle-" Kate hated the way his name came out sounding like a cross between a sigh and a moan, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment, not with him standing so close, especially since the man had just barely finished kissing her senseless.
"Just a simple yes or no would do, Kate," Rick prompted when she didn't say anything else.
Kate opened her mouth to deny that the kiss was anything other than a part of the plan to get rid of the shippers. Instead, she said, "Yes."
Rick did a quick fist pump in reaction. He then took Kate completely off-guard when he picked her up and twirled her around, setting her back on her feet with another quick kiss.
Kate couldn't help but laugh in response. She decided that she could give him this small victory. Not that it meant that her wall was down. Far from it. Admitting that she was attracted to the man was a far cry from telling Rick that she loved him.
And she was nowhere near ready to do that.
Hmmm...I debated making this chapter extra long and put the next part in, but this seemed like a good place to stop. But my muse still has a lot of energy left, so I think maybe I'll start on the next chapter... As always, I love to hear what you think. And since I think there are only two chapters left, this is one of the last times to tell me if you want to be put in the story.