Kate had been up there for 45 minutes, what the hell could she be doing? Lanie had emerged from her room not 15 minutes after Alexis came bounding down the stairs saying that the two women were currently getting settled in and that she couldn't wait for tonight. Shortly after Kate and Lanie had went upstairs everyone else had arrived as well. He could tell Ryan and Esposito were a little shocked to find that his "cottage" was basically a mansion, but had quickly made themselves at home in his kitchen with some beers. Montgomery on the other hand didn't seem fazed at all; he guessed that all those years at a detective had trained him to hide surprise. To everyone's surprise Montgomery had brought his entire family with him, but did he expect the captain to leave his family on a long weekend when he got so little time off of work? Of course not. So his wife Theresa, twin six year-old sons Charlie and Dan and Marina who was the same age as Alexis were all roaming around his house.
Truthfully he was a bit worried Alexis would get bored of the adults after a while and was grateful that she had someone her own age to talk to. She and Marina had taken the twins to the beach to let the adults bond. And as for Theresa, she was just as wonderful as the captain. Now they were all sitting on the back porch taking in the view as Esposito filled him in on some of the more interesting cases he had missed. But no matter how weird the case was he still couldn't concentrate, although he didn't let anybody see that. He had been careful to put on his mask when Kate had arrived and wasn't going to take it off until everyone was gone. The mask was his Richard Castle the novelist persona; it protected him from getting hurt. It was the person his fans and the press saw, the charming and immature man-child. He was still hurting from when Kate had chosen Demming and basically kicked him out of her life altogether, but he couldn't show it. He couldn't let Kate know how much pain she'd caused.
However no matter how much pain she caused him he couldn't get over her. He had realized long ago that his feelings for her went way beyond attraction, but he hadn't realized just how permanent those feelings were until now. He wanted to talk to her, to show her what he himself was just starting to grasp. But he couldn't do that while she was holed up in her room now could he?
"Anybody know what Beckett's doing up there? I mean she is taking forever." After the words poured out he realized he had interrupted Ryan midsentence and the entire group was giving him knowing looks. So much for not showing just how much he thought about her. After a few moments Lanie decided to put him out of his misery.
"She said she had some stuff to check on before she came back down," she said after she took a swig of beer, "I'm sure she won't be too much longer." Suddenly he wished he hadn't asked. Sure, she had "some things stuff to check on" more like she was calling her boyfriend and telling him how much she missed him already. He could just picture it; her sitting on the bed twirling her hair with her free hand and biting her lip to suppress a giggle while Demming wooed her.
He had to force himself to stop thinking about her and to focus on the people laughing merrily right in front of him. He had really missed them since he stopped shadowing Kate for the summer. He missed the trips down to the morgue where somehow Lanie found a way to make forensic results entertaining, he missed talking sports with the boys and he even missed getting calls at all hours of the day alerting him that somewhere someone had been killed. He knew that was horrible, that he shouldn't be missing people telling him that someone had died, but he did anyway. But hell he was Richard Castle, when had he ever done what he should've?
"You know I've really missed you guys," he lightly slapped Esposito on the shoulder, "it just isn't the same without a murder investigation now. Sure, I have fake ones. But now they're not as exciting."
"Yeah," Ryan spoke up, "we've missed you too. And Beckett just hasn't been the same since you left." He saw Lanie shoot Ryan a glare; if looks could kill the group would have a new case on their hands. What had changed with Kate? She was probably a lot happier without him around, and she was most likely with Demming more and more lately. He wanted to ask what had been so different, but he didn't want his fears confirmed.
"What about everyone else? I know that honey-milk over here is not the only one who missed their daily dose of Castle." Everyone seemed relieved he hadn't decided to ask about Kate.
"Yeah, yeah" Esposito answered, "we all missed you. What we didn't miss was having to deal with the aftermaths of your little stunts."
"Uh huh," Lanie was laughing now, "and I don't have to deal with Kate complaining to me about those stunts."
"Hey, those stunts are just what I do. I can't change who I am cause a couple of cops can't deal with it." He winked and pointed an accusing finger at everyone.
He was about to continue when he heard the porch door open and someone speak.
"Wow." He turned around and sure enough it was her, she was gazing out at the ocean with a surprised look covering her face. She glanced at the cluster of people, clearly feeling a little awkward about her entrance. He could've teased her about it but decided instead to make her feel more comfortable.
"Great view isn't it? I remember when I first saw the back porch of this place, I couldn't get over how enchanting the water looked. And it looks even more magical during sunset and sunrise. It's one of the many reasons why I love this place." She seemed to have relaxed considerably by the time he stopped talking.
"Yeah, it's really beautiful. I can't even imagine waking up to that everyday." She replied as she reverted her eyes back to the water. For a moment she looked almost peaceful as she studied the ocean, letting her guard down and showing everyone, if only for a second, another layer of the supposed Beckett onion. He was determined to reveal each aspect of that onion, to peel back every layer until all he had in his hands was the complete Kate Beckett. But for that to happen she had to let him in, to show him the layers, and that would take a lot of work. She had known Lanie and the boys for many years and yet he wasn't even sure they had seen half of her layers. Well maybe Lanie, but definitely not Ryan and Esposito. He had made it his mission long ago to reveal the true Kate, and since then he had peeled back many layers. The only thing was, he didn't know how many layers he had to go. All he knew was he couldn't remove each one tonight, so he motioned for everyone to stand up and accompany him to the kitchen.
"Now that Beckett has finally joined us I say it's time for dinner." Then he turned to her and playfully whispered, "I would gladly trade waking up to that view for waking up to you."
Reviews and suggestions are always appreciated. Come on, you know you want to tell me what you think! Just as a little incentive in the next chapter the subject of Demming will be coming up. The more reviews I get the faster you get the chapter.