Lanie arrived at the bar 45 minutes after everyone else, once Beckett had texted her the location. The two women were currently sitting beside each other, Lanie eating a late dinner she'd ordered from the bar, and chatting to each other in hushed tones.
The three men were across the room at one of the bar's several pool tables.
"So what's the latest with him?" Lanie asked, nodding in the general direction of the pool table.
"It's, uh, still early days, I guess," she replied, and Lanie huffed. Castle chose that moment to glance over at the table and noticed them watching them, and he hurriedly looked away.
"Girl, you don't have a whole lot of days left," Lanie said.
Beckett gave her a look that was partly exasperation and partly wide-eyed concern, before directing her gaze across the room to where Castle was standing at the head of the pool table.
He was currently playing against Ryan, with Esposito officiating and apparently providing critique and commentary. The women couldn't hear what was being said, but Castle suddenly burst out laughing after a quip from Esposito, and Ryan gave his partner a disgusted look and shook his head.
"He used to laugh like that with me," she said, and Lanie looked around at her sympathetically. "He's hardly even smiled at me in weeks."
"Have you given him a reason to?"
Beckett glared at her friend, and then sighed. "I'm really bad at this. You know I am."
"Mm-hmm, but that's always been 'cause you didn't really care if the guy hung around or not."
Lanie put her fork down, and half turned to face Beckett. "Listen, that man over there" – she nodded again in Castle's direction – "has finally got tired of waiting for you. I've only been here for thirty minutes and I can see it myself. He's itching to get out of here, because he feels like a fool."
As if on cue, Castle subtly checked his wristwatch, then did a quick survey of the state of the current frame of pool.
Beckett felt her heart sink. He's gearing up to leave.
"So I guess my question is," Lanie continued, "why the hell are you sitting here talking to me?"
Beckett gave her a brief, nervous glance, but Lanie just raised her eyebrows at her.
"I know you're scared, but the time for holding back is gone. You need to choose, Kate. Either make a play for him, or just let him go."
Beckett knew it was the truth. Or he's going to walk right out of here, and soon enough he's going to walk out of my life.
"OK," she said, taking a deep breath and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Send Javi back over to keep me company," Lanie said, "and good luck."
Beckett nodded, then stood up and walked over towards the pool table. She was just in time to see Ryan raise a fist in the air in victory, throwing his cue down onto the baize.
"Nice," Esposito said, feeding the birds with his partner as Castle politely applauded.
"How much did you lose, Castle?" Beckett asked, and his smile slipped a little as he looked towards her.
"Just some pride," he replied, sliding his cue back into the rack mounted on the wall behind the table.
"Lanie said you should go over and keep her company, Esposito," Beckett said, and Esposito threw her a quick glance of surprise before looking across the room at Lanie. He saw that she was watching him, and he shrugged and wandered off towards her.
Beckett looked pointedly at Ryan, and he excused himself to go to the men's room.
"How about another game?" she said, turning to Castle, and she saw that he was checking his wristwatch again.
He gave her a small smile and slid his hands into his pockets. "Actually, I should probably be going," he said, glancing towards the double doors at the other end of the bar.
Beckett sighed inwardly, and took two steps towards him.
"Just one game," she said, smiling.
She could see the discomfort on his face as he shook his head, again pantomiming a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"You could play Ryan," he said. "He's feeling confident. Take him down a peg."
He reached for his jacket, and she took another step towards him and then laid her hand on his arm. He froze, and then looked up at her in surprise.
"I don't want you to go," she said quietly.
He blinked, and shifted slightly. "I'm… just a little tired."
"Tired of what?" she asked.
"Uh… you know, tired. Long day."
"I don't think that's why you're going, and I'm asking you to stay."
He licked his lips and swallowed, and she could see that he had been thrown by her words.
"If you really want to go, Castle, then go – but I'll leave right after you."
His brow creased in confusion. He didn't speak, but he didn't break eye contact either.
"I'm here to spend time with you," she said. "If you're leaving, then I'm done too."
He was silent for several seconds, then he finally spoke.
"That's blackmail," he said, without any anger in his voice. His tone was contemplative.
"So call a cop," she replied.
Castle's eyes flicked over to their booth, and the saw that Lanie was holding court with Esposito and Ryan, and none of them were looking over towards the pool table.
"What's this about?" he asked, returning his attention to her and glancing briefly down towards her hand on his arm.
"It's like you said: you're tired. You've been tired for a couple of weeks now. And I'm pretty sure I know what you're tired of."
He raised an eyebrow – Oh?
She nodded, letting her hand drop from his arm.
You don't have a whole lot of days left, she thought.
"You're tired of me," she said.
She saw surprise, then hurt, then sadness, then finally compassion flit across his face.
"Beckett, that's not–"
"I mean how I am. With you."
Castle sighed. He let his eyes fall to the pool table again, but he wasn't really focusing on it.
"I'm not sure what you want me to say," he said at last.
"Say you'll stay and play pool with me," she replied immediately, and he looked up at her again.
There was a strange blend of sadness, hope, and determination on her face. The subdued lighting of the bar cast golden highlights all down the brown curls that framed her face.
He groaned, and her eyebrows twitched as she heard it.
Never did get the hang of saying no to you, he thought, and then he slowly sat his jacket back down over a nearby chair.
"OK," he said in resignation, and she smiled at him.
"Fair warning, though," she said, as she turned away towards the table to rack up the balls, "I'm not bad."
Why doesn't that surprise me? he thought, taking his cue down from the wall again.
One game of pool became two, after Castle won a convincing if unexpected victory.
Beckett had considered throwing the game, but she knew that he'd know, and in the end he'd won fair and square anyway. She was pretty sure she was off her game at the moment, but he seemed to loosen up slightly after winning, which wasn't a bad outcome.
Most of the conversation had been simple sportsmanship about each other's shots, with her doing most of the talking. He'd gradually started to contribute more as time went on, though, and the couple of beers they'd each had were also probably a factor.
They were only a few minutes into their second game when two men wandered over. They were in their early 30s, one in a printed t-shirt and the other in a blazer, and blazer guy's eyes were shining with more than just one or two drinks. His friend already looked embarrassed, and both Castle and Beckett sized up the situation immediately.
Castle rounded the far end of the table to line up his next shot, content to observe. This is the part where blazer guy hits on her, he thought.
It was something he'd seen dozens of times. She was usually polite at first, then sarcastic and dismissive, and finally – if necessary – the badge was guaranteed to make any prospective suitor beat a hasty retreat. It made for entertaining viewing.
Except for the few times when it looked like she might be interested in the guy, he thought, and frowned. He glanced up at the man in the blazer again, scrutinising him. Beckett was focused on the table, studiously ignoring the two interlopers until it was necessary to actually speak to them.
He's her type, at least, Castle thought. She went for tall, classically attractive, confident men, and blazer guy could probably pass for all of those things. His facial expression was a little sleazy, admittedly, but booze had a way of doing that.
And what's it to you, anyway? his mind asked, and he grimaced, refocusing his attention on his shot.
Beckett was aware of blazer guy's approach in her peripheral vision, but most of her attention was on Castle. She saw him quickly scan the approaching man, then return his focus to the pool table while thinking for a few seconds, then she also saw the brief flash of… something. A dark emotion, like a cloud passing over his face.
Her pulse quickened slightly.
Blazer guy cleared his throat, and she rolled her eyes and then grudgingly glanced round at him.
"Hey," he said, with an easy smile.
She nodded in acknowledgement. T-shirt guy sighed silently, looking very much like he wanted to be somewhere else.
Got to give him points for staying with his buddy, she thought with some amusement.
"How's it going?" blazer guy asked, and this time she sighed audibly.
"Good," she said. "We're gonna be here for a while longer." She gestured towards the table, and blazer guy seemed confused for a moment before shaking his head and smiling again.
"Not interested in the game, darlin'," he said, taking another step towards her.
At the opposite end of the table, Castle slowly straightened up to his full height, keeping hold of the cue.
Beckett turned fully towards blazer guy, setting her own cue down on the edge of the table. She folded her arms and fixed the man with a piercing glare that she used when interviewing suspects.
"And I'm not interested in talking to you," she replied quietly.
Blazer guy's eyebrows lifted, but his smile still didn't fade. He wasn't aware that Castle silently loomed behind him.
T-shirt guy did see Castle approach, and put a hand on his friend's arm. "Let's just go get another–"
"In a minute," blazer guy replied, and Beckett shook her head.
"Take your friend's advice and quit while you're ahead," she said. Blazer guy opened his mouth to reply, but the words never left his mouth.
"I'd listen to her," Castle said quietly, just behind the man's ear, his voice rumbling with a mixed note of amusement and implied threat.
Blazer guy spun round, to be faced by a man who stood at least a couple of inches taller than him.
This isn't like me, Castle thought. He was peripherally aware of movement across at the table where Lanie, Esposito and Ryan were sitting, but he kept his eyes fixed on the man in front of him. He was also aware that Beckett was staring at him.
"Seriously, let's go," t-shirt guy said calmly to his friend, then glanced at Beckett. "Sorry. He does this."
She didn't acknowledge t-shirt guy at all. Her gaze was fixed on Castle. His eyes were dark, but they glittered with something unfamiliar.
Blazer guy ignored the exchange, instead sizing up Castle. "Listen, man–"
Castle suddenly leaned down towards him, and spoke very softly.
"She's a detective with NYPD homicide. So are they," – he nodded towards Esposito and Ryan, who had materialised a couple of feet away – "and I'm… having a bad week. So just turn around, and enjoy your evening."
This isn't like me at all.
He could feel the nervous tension of the day flowing through him, and also the alcohol. It was the kind of combination that attracted trouble. Even so, he hadn't felt quite this way in years. A part of him wanted the guy to start something. A part of him was looking forward to it.
Blazer guy seemed to become aware of his surroundings all at once. He blinked, then glanced over his shoulder at Beckett, then around at Ryan and Esposito, before finally looking at Castle again.
He nodded and shrugged at the same time, then turned and disappeared off towards the bar, with his friend following close behind.
There was a moment of silence, then Ryan tapped Esposito's arm and they both wandered back to rejoin Lanie, who had watched the entire thing.
Beckett unfolded her arms, looking at Castle contemplatively. "You OK?" she asked, and he nodded.
"Sorry," he said at last, and she raised an eyebrow.
"For?"
He exhaled, then reached up to scratch his ear. "Y'know. You could easily–"
"Yeah, I could," she said evenly. "But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it."
They looked at each other for a long moment, before he dropped his gaze with another nod, and returned to the opposite side of the table. He still hadn't taken his shot.
He leaned over the table, lining up the cue, and she watched in silence as he sunk another stripe.
She walked around to where the cue ball had come to rest, passed by him as he stepped away to give her room. She caught his wrist in her hand, and he glanced up at her.
"Thank you," she said softly.
She saw his throat working as he swallowed, and his eyes flicked down to her lips for a fraction of a second. A crease on his forehead appeared and then disappeared so quickly that she wasn't sure if she'd imagined it.
He gave the barest hint of a nod, and after a moment she allowed her fingers to fall away from his wrist.
He took a few steps towards the other side of the table and leaned against the wall there, his eyes focused on the floor.
As she leaned down over the table to take her shot, he didn't look up.