June 9, 2009

Four weeks.

It had been four weeks, since they had last spoken. Four weeks since Castle had uttered those fateful words: 'it's about your mother'. Four weeks that felt like a lifetime.

Castle sat as it his desk, staring intently at is his computer screen as the timer moved slowly closer to zero.

One hour. One hour till he could pick Alexis up from school. One hour, until he could escape the stifling city heat, and make his way up to Hamptons for a much needed summer break.

Castle had submitted his final Heat Wave chapter earlier that morning, and now he had nothing to do but wait, however he had really spent the last four weeks waiting. Jumping up every time the phone would ring, hoping against hope that Kate Beckett's name would be flashing. The call never came.

'Leave Castle, leave now and don't come back.' Beckett had whispered between gritted teeth, fighting back the tears that would inevitably fall. She had sat down as Castle had uttered those four awful words. Her ears ringing as he tried to explain his actions. Beckett looked down at her hands as the shook uncontrollably, squeezing them between her knees hoping to maintain control. She stared intently at the watch her father had given her; she couldn't look up, unable to let him see her pain. Castle had broken the one promise, the one thing she had asked. Why had he needed to butt in?

'No, Kate listen to me,' Castle continued, sitting down next to her.

'Stop, just stop Castle,' Kate interrupted, turning her head to look him in the eye. 'You need to leave now.'

Castle had stood then, the look of complete disgust in her eye scaring him into submission. 'Call me, Kate. When you are ready? I was only trying to help. Truly.'

He kissed her lightly on the top of the head, feeling her shiver underneath him as he touched her; before moving silently towards the exit, without looking back.

Snapping back to the present Castle reflected on how things could have gone differently; but no matter how hard he analysed the situation he was unable to come up with a solution. What he had found was worth it, so what if Kate had asked him not to, at the end of the day he was only helping her. Surely she must want to solve her mother's case as much, if not more than he did?

He wasn't comfortable with ignoring each other though. He would have to go back to the precinct one day, so seeing her was inevitable. He missed annoying her, that glint in her eye when he hit the right nerve was so darn enticing.

Maybe he should get himself arrested? Naked horse riding could work. But no, that would ruin his trip with Alexis, he couldn't find a horse and get bailed out, and still be at the gates of her school in time for pick up.

Something more low key.

He glanced at his timer, forty-five minutes to go. It was then that he noticed the date, mocking him, how could he have forgotten, today was the ninth, the day he had picked out as theirs. Now he really had to do something.

But, how to celebrate without being together?

Forty-five minutes later, Castle sat in the driving seat his car outside the school gates, honking the horn in an effort to get Alexis' attention.

'Dad, stop!' Alexis shouted over the sound of the horn, as she bound into the passenger's seat. 'People are staring at us.'

'Well I wouldn't have had to honk, if you had left school a little faster,' responded Castle, smirking as he turned the car's ignition on.

'The bell rang all of three minutes ago Dad,' exclaimed Alexis, settling into her seat, hastily fastening her seatbelt before her father drove off 'What is the rush? Traffic leaving the city won't be really bad for another couple of hours yet.'

'We have an job to do first,' smirked Castle, passing a piece of paper over to Alexis.

Alexis read off the items on the list, 'Balloons with the number 3 on them, streamers and confetti. Dad, why on earth do we need this stuff?'

'That would be telling wouldn't it,' replied Castle pulling in front of a Birthday supply store. 'Can you run in and get the stuff, I have a quick call to make?'

Alexis rolled her eyes at her father, before jumping out of the car knowing it would be useless to argue with. She returned five minutes later, bags in hand.

'Come on kiddo, we are a running out of time,' chided Castle as she got back into the car, setting off before she had a chance to fasten up her seatbelt.

They arrived at the apartment building soon after, pulling into a vacant parking spot.

'Dad, where are we?' Alexis asked cautiously, glancing up at the large unfamiliar building.

'We are going to surprise Beckett,' smiled Castle, opening his door and moving towards the lobby.

'Dad!' Alexis raced after him, bag in tow. 'She's not going to like this.'

Castle didn't doubt that Beckett would be unhappy with him, but as far as he was concerned things couldn't get any worse. Esposito was waiting nervously for them in lobby.

'Dude, she is going to kill you when she finds out what you've done,' he said as a way of greeting.

'And you'll go down as my accomplice,' smirked Castle, motioning towards the elevator, as Espo flashed his police badge at the bored looking lobby attendant.

The three of them made their way up to Kate's apartment in silence.

Esposito opened the door using his, emergency key, pushing it open to reveal Kate's apartment. Castle rushed in, pulling Alexis with him.

'Coming Javi?' he queried, turning back to face a rather ashen looking Esposito, who was still hovering in the corridor,

'Nah, I'll stay here man, I don't fancy being murdered by Beckett anytime soon.'

Castle, and Alexis set to work, decorating Kate's apartment, as though it was kids birthday party. Streamers hung from the lights and book cases, and dozens of brightly colored balloons with the number three stamped on them littered the floor. It was then that Castle revealed a homemade banner.

'Dad! Did you ruin another sheet?' asked Alexis, eyeing the banner which Castle was now hanging along the back wall.

'All for a good cause my dearest,' he grinned tacking up the sheet. 'Right, I think we are about done.' Castle moved the chair he had been using as a ladder back to the dinner table, and followed Alexis to the front door. Glancing back to survey the damage they had inflicted on Beckett's apartment.

At least it was a start he thought.

'Now let's get out of the city before Beckett comes home,' he cried running towards the elevator with an astonished Esposito on his tail, forgetting to lock up.

Alexis just stood by the apartment door and stared back into the room. She was used to her father's crazy antics, but this was a little much even for him. How long would it take Detective Beckett to realise her father was crazy about her she wondered?

'Alexis, come on!' came a shout from the other end of the corridor.

'Coming!' she called back, pulling the front door closed, but not before taking one last glance at the big white sheet where her father had hastily painted a giant castle, and then scrawled his cell number next to it.

A/N: Hi guys! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I can't believe so many of you have followed along so far. This chapter is now going into hiatus territory, between seasons 1 and 2, so there will be two more hiatus chapters before we reach season 2. I really wasn't sure how to tackle this period, so please let me know your thoughts. I am also aiming for around 1000 words a chapter, would you guys prefer it if they were longer? Thanks again, comments and your thoughts on it would be massively appreciated. Hope you enjoy it!