Once Broken, Considered Sold-8

Hello! I'm back;) Thanks for leaving me some very sweet reviews after my announcement last chapter. I really appreciate it. I'm glad that at least some readers are enjoying my story:D Anyway, can all of you wait for the next episode of Castle next week? I can barely contain my excitement! The promos were AWESOME! I nearly died when I saw Vera in the blue dress:3 *starts fangirling again* Okay, I'll let you guys go and read the chapter now:D I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer- I am tied with Castle for life, but Castle is not tied to me. Even if I put superglue on the string, it comes off -.- oh well:(

Chapter 8- It's Complicated

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Rick's feet was pounding the pavement as he made his way home again. His insomnia was killing him. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Kate's disappointed eyes that were filled with hurt and undisguised pain. What made him feel even worse, was that he was pretty sure that he was undoubtedly the cause of it.

He could not get the phone call that Lanie gave him earlier that day out of his head.

FLASHBACK

"She's still in love with you, you idiot!"

"What? Who? What the heck are you talking about?"

"Kate? Katherine Beckett?The woman who made a mistake and lost you a few months ago. The woman who nearly burst with jealousy when she found out you had a date. The woman who probably wanted to cry when she read that magazine article!"

"That's bull, Lanie."

"If you can't even see that she's hurting because of you, then you're the one that's being bullheaded."

"Is she sick?"

"Yes. She's sick of waiting for you, and watching you with Adrianna."

"She's the one who chea-, broke us."

"And this time, you're the one who is breaking her."

"Lanie, we aren't having this conversation right now."

"Fine. Have it your way. Because when she starves to death because she hasn't eaten in days, you'll regret it."

END FLASHBACK

Well, at least she won't die of an empty stomach.

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Damn. Rick had gotten into her apartment. She must have been REALLY tired for her not to even notice the door opening and closing.

Out of impulse, she opened the window facing the street and looked out. She knew that by the time she did that, Rick would have been long gone. It was an unusual and yet mesmerizing sight, to see the usually busy street so quiet and still. There was not even some drunk person walking along the road after a late night party, nor a passing car.

She took a deep breath of the cool night air and sighed. In a few hours, the peace and silence would be disrupted by people running for the bus, cars driving to work, and even people walking their dogs. She hadn't minded it in the past, but after experiencing how soothing and calming the street was at night, it gave her a sense of disappointment to know that it wouldn't last.

Her gaze flickered to the table where the magazine lay closed. Although she distinctly remembered it being left open. Her immediate reaction was to open it and flip to the page of the interview, because that would be the only reason Rick knew about the magazine. She found what she was looking for at the bottom of the last page.

There was a drop of moisture, which led her to believe that he had read the article while drinking something, before he left. He had apparently attempted to write a note on it, but changed his mind and erased it at the last minute, based on the hurried eraser marks on the glossy magazine page.

She silently wondered if he still had feelings for her. She had broken his heart, and he had broken hers in a way too. They were a good match, she had to admit, in a very weird way. It wasn't like she could just say "Sorry" and everything would fall back into place again. Only in her dreams, she reminded herself.

Why did she still love him? She had been trying to move on for so long, and just when she finally started dating again, Rick suddenly comes back into her life, and all past efforts of trying to forget him were thrown to the wind.

Life was horribly complicated.

'Well, at least I won't die of an empty stomach. ' She thought, as her gaze wandered to the pizza on her table.

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Lanie seriously didn't know if she did the right thing. The thought that if Rick gave up on Kate, it would be her fault, made her heart break for her friend. She knew how Kate would react: Shrug it off when anyone other her brought it up, and quietly hold all her feelings to herself until some troubling experience triggers a memory that will make her dam burst.

It would be the same as the first time he left her. It had taken a month before she finally found a sobbing mess of Kate sitting at her doorstep. The only difference from the time before would be that it would be even harder for Kate to bounce back, provided she actually tried this time.

She hadn't been certain of Castle's feelings when they broke up, because they hadn't talked about it. She was completely convinced of them now though. After she accidentally burst and spilled that Beckett still loved him. His response didn't surprised her. In fact, in some ways, Castle was even harder to crack than Beckett.

With Beckett, she would built up walls and shut people out, but once you overcome that, you can see her whole soul. With Castle, however, things get more complicated. He built a castle to keep people from knowing his secrets. He would divert and deflect anyone who brought up sensitive issues, and even if you get past that, it would be a maze trying to even find the secrets because of his numerous passageways. It was all covered up by his humor and wit, simple ditches to fool everyone that work like a charm.

It was all these unsaid things that made their relationship complicated, and almost impossible to predict.

She had called him because the situation that Kate was in, made her so angry with him. He couldn't see how hurt she was when he started dating Adrianna. He didn't see how broken she was when she found out about the drunken mistake she had made, that cost her what she said was 'the best relationship she would ever have'.

He didn't have to spell it out for her. The fact that he didn't want to talk about it with her, meant that there was still hope for her friend. She wondered if he had gone over with food.

She had bluntly exaggerated the starve to death part. She had been with Kate that afternoon, so she couldn't have starved that badly. However, it was enough to make him pause, so knowing him, he would go and check on her. Maybe, if he did, they would talk it out and resolve some things; but that's just her plain imagination. It was way more complicated than that.

Well, at least, knowing Castle, Kate would definitely not die of an empty stomach.

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Her dad had looked discomforted at the meer mention of his 'other woman' earlier that day. It gave her slight disappointment and slight anticipation. She knew that he'd never completely gotten over the brunette, and this just confirmed her suspicions. On the bright side, there seemed to be a higher chance for them to get back together now that there was a catalyst added to the equation. Somehow, she just knew that either way, her dad would be taken care of. It eased her pain of leaving him again.

Her dad was not as quiet and sneaky as he thought, although she and everyone else gave him ample credit for trying. She could hear him when he tried to muffle the sound of his footfalls by wearing fluffy slippers, when he opened the fridge to get the extra pizza they had ordered by accident, when he tried to unlock the front door without making too much noise, and when he tore out a piece of paper and wrote a note on it.

Alright, maybe not the last one, she had already woken up by then, and so she had been watching him making hurried movements. She already knew who it was for. There was only one person other than her and grams that he would be willing to do that for. Kate Beckett.

She sighed as she watched her father leave the house for the same reason again, and she sincerely hoped that Beckett would somehow convince him that she's still worthy of him. After all, she would rather her father have a third marriage that may not start out with everything they had dreamed of, and last a lifetime because they worked things out; rather than have another marriage that although started out with a lot of things, ended because there were so many things that they could never work with.

Adrianna was great, but she was really work consumed, like Meredith, and would not be around at least half the time. It would be another mistake that would possibly cause her father to give up on marriage entirely.

She stared at the fan slowing turning on her ceiling, her teenaged mind wandering to all the things that were wrong in her life, or spelt trouble. She hasn't had a real mother in like, forever. She has no record of having a grandfather that actually exists. She had been teased and made fun of, when she was younger, for being the daughter of a famous author. Her dad has had two failed marriages, and a string of one night stands. Plus, she would be going away soon, leaving him alone.

However, the happy Alexis, who was taught by her father to always look on the bright side of life, cane back to knock some sense into her. She hadn't had a proper mother figure in her life, but she had a father who did a better job in raising her, than anyone else could. She hadn't met her grandfather, but she had a sweet grandma who took care of her, and brought more drama than anyone could into their lives. She had been teased when she was a kid, but it made her stronger and more confident, allowing her to make close friends in high school. Her father had many failed relationships, but he always shielded her from the blast of it. She would be leaving, but it would also give mmhim ample time to get his life back in order.

She heard the front door shut softly and glanced at the clock. 3.10A.M. Had it really been that long since he left? She creeped out of bed and was about to open the door to go and check on him, when she heard her doorknob turn.

She quickly darted back under her covers, closing her eyes and pretending to sleep. She heard him tiptoe to the chair beside her bed. It had been there since her bed was a crib. He sank down on it, and she could feel his soft gaze on her back. Could he know that she was awake? She just continued to close her eyes and pretend to be asleep, until sleep came and took her itself.

Her last coherent thought was that she was thankful that Kate was probably not going to die of an empty stomach.

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Okay;) I'm just going to end this chapter here~ KEKEKE. See? I'm not evil. It's not a bad cliffhanger :D It's quite a short chapter, and I apologize again for that. But that means that I will get to writing the next chapter ASAP! Argh... It's been such a stressful week. At least it's reaching the weekend now. With any luck, I may be able to post some chapters before this week is up.

Please review and let me know what you think of this chapter. I hope you guys liked it, but if you didn't, I hope you can give me some suggestions to improve my writing and so the next chapter will be even better ;)

See you later,

~Lianna