Well, again thanks to all the people who have reviewed. It's so nice to go on my email account and find all these reviews! It makes my day. And a special thanks to superlc529 for giving me some inspiration as to what Castle is going to do to Beckett. I know it's probably not exactly what you had in mind, but this is the idea that I got from your suggestion.
The sea breeze gently blew her hair as she turned the worn pages of her book. It was a good book, one of her favorites actually, but she couldn't seem to concentrate on the words for very long before her gaze would stray to the man playing with his daughter in the waves. No one could deny that he was a great father; it was one of the things she loved most about him. Granted, she loved a lot of things about him. She was comfortable with this man, he knew her better than anybody else and he gave her what she needed. A small smile graced her lips as her eyes followed his movements. Whenever she was working too hard, there he was to get her to take a break. The times when she's tense and frustrated he was always there to make her laugh and get her on the right track. He was just always there, whether she made him feel welcome or not he never left her side.
Cool droplets of water made contact with her legs, jolting her out of her thoughts. She quickly looked up and was met with amused blue eyes.
"What are you smiling at, detective?" Rick raised an eyebrow and grinned to his full capacity.
Glancing around her to make sure nobody she knew was within hearing distance she replied, "This beach has a very nice view, or it did until you got out of the water." She winked at him and tried to contain her laughter as his grin grew even wider, which hadn't seemed possible.
"Care to join Alexis and I in the water?" He asked as he extended his hand to her, suddenly looking very hopeful. She surveyed the scene around her, a book lying in the sand as she sat on the towel alone. The boys and Montgomery's family were playing with a Frisbee, the Captain, Lanie and Martha were talking animatedly about something down the beach and Alexis was waiting patiently in the ocean for her father to return. What the hell? She was getting a little hot from sitting in the sun for so long. She ignored his hand and pushed herself off of the warm sand.
"Sure, Alexis and I could use some time to catch up." She replied and began walking towards the sand with Rick right behind her.
She looked back to see him open his mouth intending to reply when he was cut off by something she had been hoping to avoid for as long as possible.
"Ricky?" A skinny, blonde girl in a very small bikini waved at him from a few yards away, "Is that you?" She saw Castle tense up before plastering a polite smile on his face and turning towards the woman.
"Hey Audrey," he exclaimed, "I haven't seen you in so long." The blonde, apparently named Audrey, jumped excitedly and pulled him in for a quick hug when he answered. She suddenly felt the urge to wrap her arm around his waist and pull him against her, to claim possession. But she couldn't do that with the whole precinct and Rick's family all around her. Damn, why couldn't they be alone? She settled for just leaning a little closer to him hoping this Audrey girl got the message. She didn't.
"I know," she put her hand on his forearm, "why haven't you been at any parties this summer?"
"I haven't had much time," he glanced over at her quickly, "and I'm not really into the party scene anymore." Audrey followed Rick's glance and acknowledged her presence for the first time.
"Oh my god," she squealed, "you're Nikki Heat!" She winced as her alter ego's name was screamed. She hated it when people referred to her as Nikki, the character may be based off of her but they were not the same person at all.
"Actually," she replied unable to keep the coolness out of her voice, "it's Kate Beckett."
"Oh, I'm Audrey Dellasanta," she turned her attention back to Rick, "so what are you doing out here, Ricky?" Immediately tensing at his little nickname she stepped closer to him, she really wanted to claw this lady's eyes out as Audrey practically shoved her fake boobs in his face.
"Fourth of July weekend party," he replied, "just spending some time with my family and friends from the precinct, like my favorite detective here." He grasped one of her shoulders with each hand and pulled her against him for a moment. She smiled up at him quickly and then turned to Audrey. The ditzy blonde still didn't seem to get it.
Audrey moved a bit closer to Rick, putting a hand on his shoulder. The woman really wasn't that perceptive, was she? Either that or Audrey just didn't care. If only she and Rick had been alone when Audrey sauntered up, she would have made the ditz get the message. She wasn't big on public displays of affection, but she was not about to let some chick waltz in and try to steal Rick.
"Mind if I join you guys today?" Audrey asked, hope drenching her voice. She wanted to crush that hope so badly, to squash that little dream like an insignificant bug on her windshield.
"Well actually," Rick started, "we were going to spend some time with my daughter. I promised her I would spend most of my time with her this weekend." She knew perfectly well that he had promised nothing of the sort. Of course they would spend loads of time together, the two had a very close relationship, but Alexis had made a friend and was perfectly aware that her father had to entertain his guests as well.
"She seems fine, Ricky," Audrey pointed to the teenager who was walking down the beach with Marina, "now why don't we go for a swim?" The blonde was looking solely at him when suggesting this, not so subtly hoping he would ditch her and head off with this bimbo. She looked over at Rick and saw he was running out of excuses, he would desperately look in her direction every few seconds trying to come up with something. Honestly, she couldn't think of one good excuse either. To this woman Rick was one very single party boy who didn't hesitate to get close to a random girl and with everyone around she was not about to say otherwise.
"Sure," he said very apprehensively and began turning towards the shore, "Beckett and I were just about to go into the water anyway." She and Rick began walking towards the water, his hand on the small of her back guiding her, as Audrey followed along behind them.
A few hours later, Audrey was still hanging off of him at every chance she got. When Ryan and Esposito had seen him heading into the water with both her and Audrey their interest had clearly peaked. Now they had joined them in the water and were obviously watching her every move. Studying how she reacted to Audrey being so clingy with Rick, and she was not handling it very well. Whenever the blonde got too close to him for her liking she would glare at the woman until she relented, and when addressing Audrey her tone was icy and flat. Rick was doing his best to not encourage the woman, but this ditz didn't seem to notice. But despite the other woman's presence she found herself having fun, he always knew how to make her laugh. The waves rocked against her abdomen as he and Esposito argued over something stupid. She couldn't really remember what it was, she hadn't been paying much attention to the fight, but she did seem to recall something about a video game. Typical.
"Fine," an exasperated Rick said, "we'll settle this like any other people who get into a fight while in the water."
"And how would that be?" Esposito questioned as she shot another glare at Audrey who was now practically hanging off of Rick's arm. This caught the attention of both Ryan and Esposito and they both tried to hide their grins.
"With a game of chicken of course." He replied as if it were a completely normal way to settle any argument.
"What?" Ryan chuckled, "That's how you settle your arguments? How childish are you?"
"Hey," he defended, "it's simple. The person who wins the game wins the fight, got it? Now, who wants to be on my team?" As soon as he said this she saw Audrey's eyes light up at the prospect of being on Rick's shoulders. No way was that going to happen.
"Must I always fight your battles for you, Castle?" It popped out of her mouth before she realized what she was doing. This was not acting normally, she would never just volunteer to get up on his shoulders and play chicken. But she hadn't really been acting normal since Audrey had shown up anyway; the boys clearly already knew something was up with her. So instead of backing down she moved closer to him, waiting for confirmation.
"Well, detective," he answered, "you are the one with the gun." And with that she climbed onto his shoulders and waited for Esposito to find a partner.
"Hey Audrey," Esposito winked at her as he called out to the blonde, "wanna take Beckett down?" She mentally made a note to thank Esposito for this when everyone knew about her and Rick. It had been obvious all day that she wanted to claw this girl's eyes out, and now she could.
When Audrey was finally perched up on top of Esposito's shoulders the game began. She couldn't help but think that this is what she and Audrey had been doing all day, fighting. Albeit to everyone else the purpose of this game wasn't fighting over Rick, but it was to them. She saw it in the woman's eyes; Audrey had realized that she did not want Audrey anywhere near Rick. She was not about to let that woman steal him, not after everything she had risked on him. She knew Rick cared for her, but that didn't mean she wasn't completely secure with their relationship. She had heard of his reputation, and was going to do everything she could to keep their relationship going. She was confident that Rick wouldn't leave her for that bimbo, but nonetheless she needed to mark her territory. Silently an agreement was reached through jealous eyes, raging green and persistent blue both determined to win.
Not so surprisingly, Audrey fell first. She was a detective, with training. Training that allowed her to take down suspects, armed or not. Knocking over a blonde bimbo was not going to be that hard for her. But before she could climb down off of Rick he squealed in excitement.
"Look!" He exclaimed as he thrust a large crab into the space just inches from her face. Caught of guard and frightened she screamed as she fell backwards into the water. She had been afraid of crabs since she was little. When she was about six years old her parents had taken her to the beach for the first time, she had always loved the water but had only been in pools. When they reached their destination she had raced out of the car and into the water, staying there for hours. At some point she had found a large crab scuttling around on the sand. Naming her Lilac, after her and her mother's favorite flower, she decided she would keep the crab as a pet. But only a few minutes later Lilac decided she did not want to be Kate's best friend, instead she pinched her pinky finger hard and refused to let go. She had run out of the water and towards her father, flailing her arm the entire time, but the crab would not relent. When she reached her parents Lilac promptly let go of her finger and hurried off towards the water. She had been scared of crabs ever since.
When she emerged from the water to find Rick smirking at her it was safe to say she was not amused.
"What the hell was that?" She yelled at him, thought his grin didn't falter in the slightest. Instead of responding he held up the crab and walked towards her as she jumped backwards.
"Are you afraid of this harmless little crab, Beckett?" He playfully asked, still stalking towards her with the crab.
"Castle…" she hissed at him and tried to stand her ground. He only got closer and closer, soon she let out a small yelp and began to back away again. He reached out with his free hand and grasped her wrist, pulling her closer to him and his little crustacean. She gulped and followed the crab with her eyes as he moved his hand around by his hip.
"Two can play at that game, detective." He whispered into her ear before flinging the crab back into the ocean. As soon as the crab was out of his hand he ran for the shore with her chasing after him.
"Castle!" She glared at his back as he tried to run away from her.
So in about 3 days I head off to China with a camp for 2 weeks. Between packing and a bunch of last minute things I'm not sure how much time I'll have for writing. So if I don't get another chapter posted by Wednesday night then I'm sorry but you won't get another one until after August 12th.
Secondly, review! Let's see if we can get to 100 reviews by the time I post the next chapter. I know you guys can do it!
And I know what some of you are thinking. 100? Ugh, really? Do I have to? The answer is no, you don't have to. But I would be extremely happy if you did do it. So let's try and meet that goal, if only for the sake of my happiness. Let's say it's a goodbye present, even though I'll only be gone for 2 weeks. Remember, suggestions are always appreciated and I'll definitely try to incorporate them into the story!