Okay, I was wrong. Major Monogram and Perry will be in this chapter, but not Dr. Doofenshmirtz, although he will be mentioned. But don't worry-the focus of this chapter is Caskett.
The last three episodes of season five are used, in some form or another, in this chapter. Purplangel, did you want me to mention that in every chapter of every story of this collection? Or just for this one?
Disclaimer: If I owned Castle, there would have been no job offer in DC to begin with. Hopefully it's a good thing I don't own it….In Marlowe I trust….In Marlowe I trust….In Marlowe I'm really TRYING to trust….
Disclaimer #2: If I owned Phineas & Ferb, Phineas would know that Isabella has a crush on him. And the kids would find out about, and remember, that Perry is a secret agent and all the kids would become fellow secret agents. At least for an episode. Although I guess that sort of happened already in the last movie, except for the remembering part….
"Oh, there you are, Perry."
Phineas' usual greeting after he had arrived back from destroying Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest 'inator had barely reached the platypus when he heard his watch beep. Why was Major Monogram trying to contact him after his latest battle with his nemesis? With a brief glance at Phineas to make sure the boy hadn't heard the small sound, Perry gave his usual guttural chatter in response. It was platypus speak for, "If you only knew what I did today" and "It's nice to be home."
Except it looked like he wouldn't be able to stay home for long.
It took a while for him to be able to slip away. Perry finally curled up in his bed and pretended to fall asleep. As soon as Phineas and Ferb had gone into the kitchen with the other kids for the snack the boys' mother had promised, Perry pushed the button under the blanket he slept on. Instantly the bed flipped and Perry slid down the clear tube straight into his secret lair. It was the most direct of all of his routes but because it was most easily spotted, he rarely used it.
"Oh, there you are, Agent P," Major Monogram's image was already on the screen as Perry dropped into his chair. "Sorry to call you during your off hours but we received word that a ray one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz 's creations hit a member of the NYPD."
Perry's eyes widened in shock. New York City was hundreds of miles away from Danville. How could a ray have possibly hit-?
"Apparently a ray hit a satellite and ricocheted to New York City," Major Monogram answered Perry's unasked question. "We would have picked up on it sooner but the effects of whatever it was Doofenshmirtz created were only internal. It's taken us days to run the distance scanner on this many of the officers in New York City. It's a good thing she's from the 12th precinct. We were going numerically. It could have taken months."
Perry shuddered. The damage that one of the inventor's 'inators could do if left unchecked for months was too terrible to contemplate.
When his supervisor gave him the date that one Detective Kate Beckett had been hit, Perry knew exactly which 'inator the ray had come from.
"We need you convince Dr. Doofenshmirtz to create another of those machines. They usually have a 'reverse' switch on them, don't they?"
Perry nodded. That, and a self-destruct button that might come in handy.
"We will need you to go to New York, Agent P," Major Monogram informed him. "Only you know how the 'inators work and only you have the ability to travel through New York unseen. No one else can know about this. It would throw things into chaos if the general public found out about the O.W.C.A. animal secret agent program."
Perry couldn't argue with that. He remembered all too well how his human, Phineas, had reacted when he'd found out his pet platypus was really a secret agent. Perry had never seen the boy so mad. But then the O.W.C.A. had wiped the kids' memory of the incident. So things had gone back to normal. Perry still wasn't sure if that was a good thing. The kids would make great secret agents, even as young as they were. Technically, they were all years older than he was. But humans grew to maturity a lot slower than a platypus did. And Perry suspected that most humans wouldn't be as accepting of a platypus secret agent as he knew Phineas would have been. Eventually.
But a Break-Up-Inator, or any of Doofenshmirtz inventions, was a different story. Perry needed to get to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, the scientist's secret lair, before it was too late.
Who knew what damage had already been done?
A job? Seriously? That was what was going to destroy them?
Although it was a job she had absolutely no interest in, her strange condition forced Kate to go after it like nothing else mattered. Least of all Castle.
What a load of crap!
She wouldn't lie. Well, not to herself, at least. She seemed to be unable to do anything but lie to Castle lately.
The job was an amazing opportunity. It was an honor to be selected. But it was an opportunity, an honor, she didn't want. One she had never wanted. Some people might look down on her for that but she didn't care.
Kate was perfectly happy where she was. She found purpose in bringing closure to families who had lost loved ones in unexpected, horrible ways. Purpose in bringing killers to justice. And she couldn't deny the adrenaline rush of tackling with suspects in interrogation, a psychological dance that never grew old. Adding Castle to the mix brought an element of fun she would have never thought possible in her line of work.
Castle.
What must he be thinking right now?
Less than a year ago she had shown up, drenched from her long trudge in the rain, wanting nothing more than his forgiveness, his love, him.
So, what? Now she had gone from 'I just want you' to 'I just want the job?'
How did that make any sense? How could he not see that something was seriously, desperately wrong? That this wasn't her?
And yet, how could he see it? When every word, every action, told him that he no longer mattered.
When she was yelling at him for legitimate questions? When she was lying to him at every turn? When she was sneaking off like a grounded teenager for an interview that meant less than nothing to her?
Worst of all she used the 'my life, my choice' argument again. That had carried more weight when he had made a deal behind her back with some stranger, trusting a voice on the phone more than he trusted her. Back when thoughts of 'them' were hopes and dreams, not a cemented reality. Saying it now was heartless and cruel. Not to mention, wrong. Because it wasn't just her life anymore. It was their life.
She had said 'I think we're just getting started.' And she'd meant it.
She still meant it.
But because of this situation she'd found herself in, she may never be able to let him know the truth.
Perry had been hiding just outside the 12th precinct, waiting. This 'inator, unlike most, was small enough to fit under his hat. The platypus took another look at the picture Agent Monogram had faxed over. She was pretty, for a human. He had looked intently at every woman that had come out of the building for the last two hours. None of them had been her.
Perry was debating the accuracy of the tracking equipment of the O.W.C.A. so far away from Danville-although he'd been as far away as England, so the distance between his home city and New York City shouldn't really matter-when he spotted her.
Everything seemed normal. But Perry knew, better than most, how deceptive appearances could be. And Doofenshmirtz had told him enough about how the Break-Up-Inator worked that Perry knew there weren't likely to be any outward physical signs of what the female detective was going through.
Perry had been a secret agent long enough to know that timing was crucial. Careful to keep himself out of sight, the platypus began to follow Detective Kate Beckett, waiting for the opportunity to finally make things right.
Castle was sitting on the swing, obviously deep in thought, when she arrived at the park. Kate wished she knew how this was going to go; she wished she had some real say over how this was going to go.
But she didn't.
She felt sick, knowing she was going to take the job. It's what everything in the past few days had led up to. She was going to walk away.
It would help if she could just know why. What was causing her to behave like this? What was it that had stolen her ability to make her own choices? What was so determined to come between her and Castle?
He would have helped her, if he had known. He would have stood by her, accepted every hurtful thing she said and did as an effect of this unknown something if she had just been able to tell him. Together, they would have been able to figure it out. They would have been able to defeat this thing.
But she was alone. More alone than she had ever been. Even though Castle was mere feet away when she sat down on the other swing.
"I'm sorry," Kate was finally able to get out. "I shouldn't have kept secrets."
"It's who you are," Castle replied, his tone flat. "You don't let people in. I've had to scratch and claw for every inch."
No. It's not like that, not anymore.
Kate tried, but wasn't surprised when the words didn't go any further than her mind.
"Castle." Kate wasn't even sure what was going to come out of her mouth now.
Whatever was needed to push him the rest of the way out of her life.
"Just let me finish."
Kate was sure it was a good thing that he interrupted her. Thankfully she was able to remain silent and let him speak.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking about us, about our relationship, what we have, where we're headed."
Kate revised her opinion when he shook his head. Pain squeezed her heart, made it difficult to breathe when he said, "I want more. We both deserve more."
She was wrong. She wasn't going to throw the grenade that would blow up their relationship. He was. She had actually pushed him past whatever "always" could handle.
Kate wanted to scream when, "I agree," came out of her mouth.
She didn't agree. Not with this. Not with walking away, either of them. Not with losing him. She would never agree to that.
"So whatever happens, whatever you decide-"
If only she was the one making the decision.
"Katherine Houghton Beckett-"
Kate was frozen, this time in shock, not because of her mysterious ailment. Was he really-?
She watched as he got of the swing and slid on to one knee, a diamond ring held between two fingers.
"Will you marry me?"
He was proposing now? Now, when she couldn't do anything about it? Now, after all that she had put him through in the last couple weeks? Now, when whatever came out of her mouth would do irreparable damage?
NO!
The word exploded in Kate's mind as she felt something slam into her left leg. The pain pushed her forward. She would have fallen of the swing if she hadn't been gripping the chains that attached the seat to the metal bar overhead.
Utter devastation was the only way Kate could think to describe the look on Castle's face. It was almost as if she had said the word out loud.
It was then that she realized that the word was ringing in her ears.
How could she possibly-
Was it because it would create the most damage? Or-
The pain. In her leg. It felt exactly like the pain in the middle of her back had all those days ago.
Did that mean-
There was only one way to find out.
"Castle, I love you." The words were spoken quickly in her rush to get as much out as she could, if she could, while she could. Kate closed her eyes for a brief moment in relief. But she couldn't get complacent. Just because she had control over herself now, that didn't mean it was going to last. She might be hit by another 'bullet' any second. "I never wanted the job. The 12th is my home. I wish I could explain what has been going on these last few days but I can't. I don't know what made me act like I did. It wasn't me, Castle. I tried so many times to stop what was happening, tell you what was going on." Why did all of this seem like empty excuses when she was finally speaking the truth? Maybe if she gave him specifics… "I didn't even want to go that interview. But I couldn't get my legs to cooperate. I haven't been able to get anything to cooperate-my hands, my legs, my feet; it was like something else had taken over. I don't know how I can get you to believe me-"
"I believe you," Castle said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Kate turned to give him a confused look when she saw that he seemed to be in shock.
"Castle, what-?" Kate turned her head in the direction of Castle's gaze and jerked in surprise at what she saw what had Castle so ready to believe her: a platypus with a brown hat on its head, holding what looked like some type of drill. That was strange enough but what made things even more bizarre was that this platypus was a cartoon, a three-dimensional cartoon.
Kate's eyes narrowed in a glare at the animal. "Did you just shoot me with that-?"
The blue-green colored creature nodded.
"Did you shoot me with it the last time?"
The creature shook its head.
"But you know who did?"
Again the creature nodded.
Kate waited but the creature just stood there, looking at her. If Kate didn't know better, she would think it was concerned.
Although she was talking to a platypus that seemed to understand what she was saying.
So maybe the platypus was concerned.
"Who?" Kate wasn't going to let whoever had done this get away with it. The technology that had been used was dangerous. Potentially more dangerous than a bomb, if it fell into the wrong person's hands.
The platypus just blinked.
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
A shake of its head was the only answer she received.
"What are you going to do with it?" Castle asked.
Kate almost scolded him, about to assure him in no uncertain terms that he was not going to be using that thing, whatever it was, as a toy. But then she saw the fierce expression on his face and knew he felt the same way she did. They had to make sure that the contraption was destroyed before it became worse than a deadly weapon.
The platypus looked over at Castle, blinked and then pressed its thumb down on the machine. Kate thought it might have pushed a button. Before she could react-since when had Castle gotten faster than her?-Castle spun around so that he was on his knees in front of her, his body blocking hers from any possible attack.
Kate pressed against his back to push him down-after all, she was the cop and should be protecting him- but before she could, the contraption in the small creature's hands exploded in a large ball of blue smoke.
After giving them a thumb's up, the platypus turned and hurried over to a park bench several yards away and-jumped?
Was a platypus a burrowing animal? Kate had no idea but truthfully she really didn't care enough to try to find out. She knew what that 'thumbs' up' had meant. Things were back to normal. Well, as normal as things ever were for them.
After the creature was gone Kate waited. She just knew Castle would have something to say about all of this.
His eyes twinkling with their old sparkle, his voice filled with the giddiness she hadn't heard in far too long, Castle said, "Our relationship was saved by a platypus!"
That's it for this story. See you guys next time!
