A/N: No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you – this is, in fact, another update in less than a week. It's short (and unbeta'd), but I wanted to get this out since I'm not sure I'll be able to work on this story over the weekend.
By the way, I want to publicly wish a happy belated birthday to supermandy77, who turned one year dirtier this past Tuesday :) I had a special chapter in store for this occasion, but Beckett was being very opinionated, so I had to deal with some other things before I could work on what I have planned. Dear Mandy: since I'm not sure you would enjoy having this of all chapters dedicated to you, I'm just going promise you that, eventually, your chapter will come.
PREVIOUSLY:
Once again alone in the room, Castle's thoughts went back to the remarkable brunette he was falling in love with. He wanted – needed – to hear her voice.
Before he had a chance to pick up his phone, though, the device started ringing on its own.
His smile was blinding once he checked the called ID and answered the call. "Kate? Hi."
"Hey, Castle," she greeted, somehow managing to sound both excited and tired with just two words. "I'm sorry I haven't got a chance to call you sooner."
Promptly, he cut in, "Don't worry about it. I'm glad you called now." He smiled, eager to talk to her and thrilled at the thought that maybe she felt the same way. Aiming for small talk, he added in a conversational tone, "Actually, I've been quite busy myself."
"Right, with your writing," she acknowledged. "How's it going?"
"Pretty well, yeah. I think I'll even manage to submit it to my publisher in time." Thanks to you, he added in his head.
Before he had a chance to touch the subject of using her as a muse, though, Beckett chuckled. "Yeah, meeting a deadline definitely sounds like something worth celebrating," she teased him.
"You make fun of me now, but soon enough you'll realize I miss most of my deadlines."
"Is that so? I wonder how you still get published," she pondered sarcastically.
"I'm Black Pawn's golden goose," he argued immediately. "World-renowned, best-selling author right here, you know."
"Oh, that's how," she quipped.
Despite her sardonic comment, Beckett couldn't keep herself from feeling a bit overwhelmed. It still amazed her that she'd met – and was actually involved with – her favorite mystery novelist.
This past month she'd been getting to know him served to show to Kate that Castle was very down to Earth when it came to his fame and fortune, and nothing like the arrogant, self centered man he seemed to be when he first consulted with her a few months before. Of course, there was no doubt in her mind that Rick Castle was still an immature, conceited, annoying man at times, but somehow she accepted that part of his personality as a piece of what made up the great man he was slowly proving himself to be.
Wow… could I be any more taken with the guy?
The question she mutely posed to herself put a smile on her face at first, but then she caught herself.
Her growing feelings for this man both amazed and frightened her.
"You still there, Kate?"
"Uh, yeah, still here," she replied to his tentative question in a daze. "Sorry, I was just thinking."
"About?" he prodded.
Covering for the thought that was actually on her mind, she jested, "How you seem to believe that you're much more of a celebrity than you actually are."
He chuckled. "Come on, now, Beckett. I know you're just saying that to hide the fact that inside you're still squealing because you're in a relationship with your favorite author."
Oh, the nerve!
"You couldn't be further from the truth," she told him. He couldn't be closer to the truth, though.
The smirk in his voice was clear when he said, "If you say so…"
See? Still so conceited.
Damn him for being so endearing.
"Are you home?" his voice boomed on the line.
"No, I'm still at the precinct."
All signs of mockery vacated Rick's voice, laced then only with honest curiosity and interest. "Still no luck solving your case?"
"Not even close," she confessed. "I mean, I'm certain that we've got the guy. I just don't have the evidence to back up my instincts."
"I'm sure you and the boys will find something."
"We'd better. The worst thing with this case is, if we can't stop him, I know he's going to do it again," Beckett vented her concerns to the novelist.
After a beat spent deciding on how to word what he wanted to say, Castle spoke. "You'll catch him. All you need is a breakthrough. Which is why you called me, really."
Okay… apparently, he was on to her.
Kate held her breath, waiting for his juvenile bragging to begin.
And brag he did. "You were frustrated, and, in order to feel better, you decided to call me for my charming personality and deep, captivating voice."
Oh, he thought…?
She smirked. "That's so not the case, Castle."
"Really? So why did you call me then?" he asked her, smugly, so certain that Kate was calling him because she missed him.
The detective's smirk fell and she winced. Maybe it was better to have him think she just missed him, after all.
But of course she wasn't so lucky.
Soon enough Castle figured out Kate's reasons for calling him. "Wait. You called to ask for my help with your case, didn't you?"
Damn it.
"No," her denial rolled unconvincingly off her tongue.
Rick latched on to her discomfort and boasted, "Yes, you did! You wanted my insight on your case!" Self-satisfied, he marveled, "I've actually become a consultant for New York's finest."
Beckett really wished she could knock that self-gratifying smirk he was sure to have on his lips right then.
Deciding to make lemonade out of the lemons in her life – currently, her humiliation –, she went on and asked him, "Well, consultant, do you have wild theories for me? Any counsels at all?"
He was silent for a small while before confessing dejectedly, "Nope. Got nothing."
Disappointed, she droned, "A hell of a consultant, you are."
"Give me time, Detective. I might have a brilliant epiphany at any moment."
"I'll be sure to not hold my breath for that."
Even though they couldn't see each other over the phone line, Beckett and Castle knew they both were smiling to themselves, the companionable silence that fell between the pair evidence that they both were enjoying how effortless their banter went.
After a while, Rick spoke on a sigh, "I wish I didn't have to focus on writing right now; then I could ask you to come over."
"All the same," Kate told him, probably sounding just as disappointed. "I'd have to decline since I want to go over all the evidence we have so far. Maybe something pops out, I don't know."
Emboldened by the fact that her only objection to his invitation seemed to be work, he tried again. "I have to deliver my final manuscript to Black Pawn by Sunday evening. Maybe you could come over then?"
She hesitated. "On Sunday?"
"Yeah," he confirmed easily, trying to ignore the hitch in her voice.
"I, uh… I can't," was all Kate said after a beat.
Rick couldn't help but think back to earlier in the week when Kate had teasingly told him (or so he hoped) that admitting to being in a relationship did not mean she was agreeing to an exclusive relationship.
"Why? You have a date or something?" He really hoped his tone sounded as nonchalant and playful to her as he was going for in his mind.
But of course she could hear the lingering anxiety in his tone. Not wanting him to question their status, she took a deep breath and told him, "I know I'm not the easiest person to be involved with, or even simply to get to know. But when I'm with someone, I'm 100% with that person. No room for anyone else, Rick."
Her assurance found its way to Castle's heart and mind. "Okay." He smiled into the phone. "So, to be sure, we're committed?" he couldn't help but ask. "Because I didn't know if we were exclusive or not, and…"
At his words, Kate's heart sank. "Why, did you…" she started to form the question, interrupting the man's ramblings, but lost her voice together with her courage. Unable to ask what was on her mind, she braced herself and tried a different approach. "I mean, if you want to go out with other women–"
Castle heard her timid words and quickly caught on to what was on her mind. Hoping to clear up any misunderstandings and reassure her, he confessed, "I haven't gone out with anyone else, Kate. Nor do I want to. I just wasn't sure if you wanted to be exclusive."
It was Kate's turn to smile then. "I'm committed, Castle. As surreal as this is, I'm willing to give us a chance. An exclusive chance."
She sounded so certain and, as far as he could tell, uncharacteristically open about this – them – that he couldn't keep his beaming smile from traveling through the phone line when he told her, "Me too."
"Good," she agreed, feeling like a girl with her first crush.
After a moment of silence, Castle resumed their conversation. "Anyway, why can't you come over on Sunday?"
The uneasiness instantly returned to her heart. "I'm meeting my dad for dinner," she told him, hoping he wouldn't ask any further questions on the matter.
Surprisingly, all he said was a chirpy "That's great, Kate!"
After Beckett had told him about Jim overcoming his struggle with alcohol, Castle had come to realize – even more so than he already knew – how important it was to have a father and to make sure you both could count on each other.
He was honestly happy for her – so much that it didn't even occur to him to question why she was meeting him on Sunday evening. He didn't even try to invite himself to her dinner date with her father either.
All of which made her feel even worse about omitting the fact that her dinner plans with her dad involved celebrating her upcoming birthday.
TBC
(All characters and even some of the quotes in this fanfic don't belong to me. This is made available for entertainment only and not for profit. No copyright infringement is intended.)