Castle: Beckett's Security Blanket
Chapter 15: Dr. Lanie Parish, Relashionship Examiner
I'm sorry, I suck at updating in a timely manner. If anybody wants to send me large sums of money so I can quit my job and just do this all day, I'd be perfectly willing. Until then, my apologies for making you wait so long. As always, read on and enjoy…
Beckett let out a heavy sigh and leaned herself up against the back wall of the elevator as the large metal doors sealed her inside; away from the (very) prying eyes of her partner who still sat at her desk, probably now entertaining himself with the latest Angry Birds update or something similar.
She didn't in fact have anything work related or even at all important to discuss with Lanie but she knew she just needed a few minutes to get away and collect herself and thought that maybe a chat with her best friend would help her relax a little.
On her way to the M.E.'s lair she put in a quick call to Ryan and Esposito to see if anything had come of their stakeout yet. The boys had offered to take the early shift this morning and were currently camped outside their suspects apartment building in their unmarked cruiser.
"Hey, Beckett" Espo greeted after only the second ring.
"Hey Espo. Any movement yet?"
"Nadda" he told her and she could hear him sigh with probable boredom. "I'm not sure where this guy slept last night, but it wasn't here. We're keeping our eyes peeled though so if he shows up, you'll be first to know"
"Maybe he's got a girlfriend he stays with" Beckett surmised. "Tell Ryan to stay in the car and you go in and talk to the neighbours, see what you can find out"
"Alright you got it" Esposito quickly agreed. "Anything to get out of this car, Ryan's listening to his self-help crap tapes again"
"It's not self-help" she could hear Ryan groan in the background. "Jenny and I are doing a relationship building seminar to make sure we're being the best partners we can be for eachother" he explained and Beckett had to bite back her smirk. Poor Espo.
"Yeah well I'm your partner in this car and I say it's crap" she could hear Esposito bicker. "You and Jenny are like the happiest couple on the planet anyway"
"Yeah, and how do you think we stay that way Javier? By always working at it"
"Oh for crying out loud, give me this crap" she heard Espo grumble, followed by the distinct sound of buttons being pressed on the stereo panel.
"Hey, Javi! Don't, no, not out the window! Oh come on man!"
This time Beckett couldn't hold back the laughter as she pictured the two of them squabbling back and forth "Well listen, you boys work out your problems and call me later okay?" she instructed before hitting the end call button and stepping through the doors of the M.E.'s office.
"Hey girl" Lanie greets her almost immediately as Beckett steps into the large room where Lanie is hovering over a body with a clipboard in one hand and pen in the other.
"Hey" Beckett smiled softly at her; thankful to see a friendly face.
"What brings you down here? This one isn't yours is it?" She questions; head nodding to the middle aged deceased woman lying underneath the white sheet.
"No" Beckett quickly shook her head. "Just… thought I'd stop by"
"Mmm hmm" Lanie responded with quizzical raise of her eyebrow as she studied her friend from across the room, attempting to get a read on her. "What's going on? What's writer boy got you all tied up in knots about this time?"
"Why does something have to be wrong? And why do you automatically assume Castle has anything to do with it?" Beckett asked with a huff of indignation. Regardless if Lanie hit the nail right on the head or not, she was still going to try and fight it; not willing to accept that apparently everyone can see exactly what Richard Castle does to her.
"Oh please I can read you easier than one of writer boys novels" she explained with a wave of her hand. "I can see all the way from over here that something's got you wound up and these days it pretty much always Castle who's to blame for that. Don't think you can hide from me Kate Beckett" Lanie warned with a wag of her index finger in Beckett's direction.
"Fine. Lanie, he's driving me crazy!" Beckett almost immediately conceited; knowing she was already busted. Lanie had her pegged the moment she stepped through the door. With a huff of frustration escaping her Beckett shook her head before taking a few steps over to a large unoccupied metal examination table and hopped on up; hands resting in her lap and feet dangling over the edge.
"Dish girl, I got time" Lanie prodded, peeling her latex gloves off and throwing them aside before reaching for her wheeled leather stool and taking a seat; all attention fixed on her friend.
"Well, last night when we went to bed," Beckett began, then immediately screwed her eyes shut and slapped a hand over her mouth as the realization struck her that she had yet to inform the M.E. of her current living situation.
"Wait, what? Woah, back the truck up miss thing, what do you mean we went to bed? Have you been holding out on me?"
Crap, crap, crap. Well done Beckett.
Lanie was already up from her seat and Beckett wasn't sure if she was going to run towards her and hug her, or possibly throw a sharp object across the room at her for not giving her this information sooner.
"No, no no, not like that!" Beckett quickly back peddled; holding her hands up in front of her in defense from any sudden movements Lanie was about to make. The M.E. gave a look of confusion before finally folding her arms across her chest and nodding at Beckett to continue with her explanation.
"So, just to be clear you're not sleeping with Castle" Lanie asked after a moment of silence passed between them.
"What? No! Well, kind of, but no, no, not like, not like that" Beckett tried her best to explain only it seemed she just kept digging herself deeper and deeper into the hole.
"Girl you better start making sense real soon" Lanie huffed with a roll of her eyes. "Why don't you just start at the beginning"
"Okay" Beckett sighed, letting her shoulders settle before diving into the very long explanation of how she got to exactly where she was now. Lanie was less than thrilled to hear that not only had Beckett's apartment been broken into and her own safety threatened but that she, or Esposito for that matter, hadn't bothered to tell her about either event. She knows Beckett doesn't like to worry people but this was huge and she hadn't shared it with her. She owed Javier a slap to the back of the head for this one, but she'd put that on hold until later.
"So anyway," Beckett continued a while later "I just kind of found myself in his bed every night. I know now it probably wasn't the wisest decision but I couldn't sleep by myself, kept getting startled awake by nightmares but when I was with Castle it was like…" she trailed off, unsure how to finish the statement.
"Safe" Lanie offered softly and Beckett looked down to the floor but slowly nodded her head.
"Yeah, I mean, yeah, I guess" she shrugged, fidgeting with her nails. "Sounds pretty stupid right?"
"No" Lanie responded without hesitation. "It sounds like progress" Lanie continued after a moment and Beckett raised her head slightly to look her in the eyes. "You're letting someone in, honey that's great" she gave Beckett and easy smile but it quickly faded when Beckett dropped her head again.
"Yeah, I let him in, for about ten seconds before I slammed the door in his face again"
"Oh no. What happened?" Lanie asked gently, rolling her stool closer to Kate until she was just a few feet away, close enough to reach out and rest a hand on Kate's knee gently urging her to continue.
"Same thing that always happens" Beckett shrugged after a moment. "Things got a little too real and I panicked. Fled"
"And now? You're regretting it?"
"No" Beckett answered all too quickly.
"No?" Lanie challenged.
"Well, I don't know, maybe. It's just… It's complicated Lanie"
"Girl it's been complicated for four years now. Eventually you're going to have to get over that. Everybody knows you guys are crazy about each other and I'll tell ya, the only person who can't seem to accept that is you"
"Well it doesn't matter now anyway" Beckett huffed with a wave of her hand.
"And why's that?"
"I think he's over it. He's back to the old Castle, doesn't seem to even be phased about the huge fight we had last night anymore so I don't think he was reading as much into everything as I am, or was. Honestly Lanie I don't think he cares all that much"
"Oh please" Lanie huffed. "That man has been head over heels crazy about you for years, and he ain't exactly shy about hiding it. Hell, he's basically written 3, almost 4 novels of love letters to you. If he's acting out now it's because he's trying to protect himself from getting hurt, not because he doesn't care. You know that as well as I do, you just don't want to admit it because you're afraid of what it means and you know why? Because you're head over heels crazy about him too" Lanie stated matter-of-factly as she once again folded her arms across her chest. "Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong" she challenged.
Kate lowered her head once more and studied the ceramic floor tiling, needing to focus her gaze anywhere but to her friend's eyes because she knows Lanie will see right through her. At this point, Lanie probably has a better handle on Kate's emotions than she does, she rightly surmised.
Lanie didn't see things the way Kate did though. She would tell Kate things like 'you never know until you try' and 'without risk comes no reward' but she never saw it from Kate's perspective; that if she took that leap and failed, well, she couldn't take that risk. Present company excluded Castle had pretty much become her best friend over these past few years and she didn't want to risk losing him from her life all together when she inevitably screwed up their relationship.
"Well?" Lanie asked again a moment later.
"Lanie, I…" Beckett began, interrupted by the sudden ring of her cell phone.
"Girl don't think you're gonna be saved by the bell on this one" Lanie warned as she watched Kate reach for her phone.
"Beckett" she answered promptly.
"What? Where? Okay, yeah I'll meet you in interrogation." Ending the call and sliding the phone into her pocket Kate hopped off the exam table and headed towards the door.
"Where do you think you're going" Lanie asked; not entirely amused.
"Lanie, we got him!" was all Beckett replied with before hurriedly making her way out of the morgue and towards the elevators.
A/N: dun dun dunnnn! Well the case is nearly coming to a close but you'll read more about that in the next update. As for Castle and Beckett, well, their case is never closed so stay tuned because there's more to come. Reviews are love xx
A/N 2: For those that are unaware, I dabble in making Castle fanvideo's as well that I post on YouTube. Recently I've been slightly obsessed with making mock movie trailers for Castle (either my own made up story lines or clips of Castle & Beckett over an audio track of an actual movie trailer). Anywho, I've just posted a new one called "Trust (a Castle fanmade trailer)" it's an AU spin, Castle is a CIA agent put on assignment to get close to Beckett in order to keep her from investigating her mother's case, and things get complicated when he starts to fall for her ;) So anyway feel free to check it out, just type the title into the YouTube search bar and it should be the first thing that comes up. Unfortunately I can't post links here. There is a link in the description of that video to all my other trailers as well if you're interested. Maybe they'll make up for my lack of updating here? ;P