A/N: Enjoy!
VII
Castle's Apartment
Later
Castle stood in a graveyard. The sun blocked by a funeral shroud of dark gray clouds. The trees about the tombs were bare of leaves and a steady rain beat down among the headstones. A ghostly fog was slithering along the ground, its slimy tendrils inching forward to claim more territory. A funeral was in progress nestled between two old crypts. What caught he eye was the fact that he knew some of the people seated there. As he moved closer he was able to pick out many faces. Captain Montgomery, the Mayor, Detectives Esposito and Ryan, Martha and Alexis were also there. Must be my funeral, he thought. He moved over toward Alexis to hear what the minister was saying.
"Kate was an exemplary office. Gunned down in the prime of life…."
Kate noooo!Castle could not believe was hearing. It could not be true. There was so much he had wanted to tell her. So much they still had to do.
"You killed me Castle."
Richard whirled. Standing before him was a gruesome specter. Detective Kate Beckett stood before him. Her blouse was bloodied; her skin sallow and dark circles were around her sunken lifeless eyes.
"Kate" Castle said heartbreak in that one word.
"Why Rick? Why did you allow me to die? You could have warned me that the psycho was going to come gunning for me. Were just so selfish and immature that it did not matter to you if I died?"
"No Kate I tried to wake up and tell you. It was the drugs that they gave me. I just couldn't wake up."
"You were awake enough to give your 'grab ass' comment. Did you hate me so much that you wanted me to die? And what about Alexis did you want her dead too? You left us to die Rick." There was so much scorn in that one word, it broke Castle's heart.
A shot rang out and Alexis sprawled on the ground. Castle scanned the area and saw the pseudo Derek atop one of the tombs sniper rifle in his hands. The gloating look on the shooters face made Rick's blood boil. He ran toward the snipers nest, intent on cleaving the life out of the shooter with his bare hands….
Castle woke and drew in a breath to cry out. A warm and reassuring pressure cut the cry off. Kate lay beside him, her head nestled on the left side of his chest. His pulse raced and his breathing was erratic. Vainly he tried to calm down before he woke her up.
"Rick? The dream?"
"Yeah, same as always, but at least I didn't scream. Well, I would have if you hadn't been here." He lamented.
"Dominic is in jail awaiting trial. He is not going to escape and come after you again."
"He is not the only psycho out there. You have seen my fan mail; you have seen how disturbing my mail can be. How many unbalanced readers have I pissed off? How many number one fans are stalking me right now? How many think that by getting rid of you or Alexis will mean I will notice them? And you know that my Karma sucks, so when is the shoe going to drop?"
"Castle, you can't think like that. You are just going to drive yourself crazy with the 'What if's'. It took me years of therapy to learn that you can't worry about the 'What if's'. You have to live in the moment. You can only do so much to prepare for the future. At some point you just have to go on faith."
"In case you haven't noticed I am not a very religious man. I don't really have faith."
"Richard, I am not really talking about that kind of faith. I am talking about having faith in yourself. Knowing that you can handle whatever comes your way. I certainly have seen you in tough situations. You are the most coolheaded civilian. Hell, you are more level headed in tough situations than a lot of cops that I know." Kate reassured.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence but that doesn't really help matters. I haven't be able leave the building since I got home from the hospital. I don't know if I can. I sure as hell don't want to."
"Rick, you can't just hide in your apartment. The longer you stay in your apartment the harder it will be for you to leave. You have got to start getting out. Maybe go to the corner news stand for a paper, or over to Black Pawn. Just please start getting out." Kate urged.
"So since it is three in the morning, will you be staying the rest of the night?", Rick asked innocently, ignoring her pleas.
"Well, I really don't want to drive this late."
"My room, guest room or couch?" Castle said playfully
"Guest room, Richard." Kate replied.
"Speaking of…. I don't mind but why do you call me Richard? Only my mother calls me Richard."
"I guess it's because at work I call you Rick, Castle or Kitten. So when we are away from work I wanted to call you something else. Something that will let you know I am thinking about you differently."
"You could use a pet name. I'm partial to stud muffin or sex god." Rick quipped.
"You can't ever be serious can you? I happen to think that Richard is a very sexy name."
"Well then, please use it to your heart's content."
When she went to the guest room she saw that the sheets had been changed and the pajamas were neatly folded and lying on the comforter at the bottom of the bed. Again she wondered why he would have pajamas that were her size. Alexis was smaller than Kate and Martha was a different build. Was his ego so large that he was confident that she would have eventually stayed over or were these cast off's from an old girl friend. He had said that he did not bring dates to the house so why were the pajamas there? She made a note to ask Castle in the morning.
"Good morning Kate." Alexis said as she laid a breakfast tray on the table beside the bed.
"Morning, Alexis. Breakfast in bed?"
"Yes, welcome to my world. Apparently the Writing Muse has struck dad, because he is hold up in his study, door closed. And only grunts as a response. Fortunately this doesn't happen that often. The last time this happened he wrote the last five chapters of Storm Fall. So I guess he's due."
"Did he say anything about last night?" Kate probed.
"He said UUUUH! Or an approximation of that." Alexis chuckled.
"Things got pretty heavy last night…."
"You know, as his child I'm not sure I should be hearing this" Alexis blushed.
"Talk, Alexis, just Talk"
"Oh, sorry, I guess….. What I mean…… Well I know that Dad…, you know…., has dates….. and stuff…." Alexis stuttered, embarrassed.
"Alexis, stop, please, I don't think that is something I want or need to know." Kate blushed in turn.
"Oh, sorry, I mean there hasn't been any of that since my mother last spring. So I just assumed…., sorry"
"He hasn't…… Not since your mother? Last spring….. Oh!" Kate was stupefied.
The Precinct
Beckett
Kate sat at her desk going over cold case files, and thinking about the past few weeks. She felt as if she had gotten onto one of the old Coney Island roller coasters that she used to ride as a child. She felt out of control and she disliked the feeling. It made her irritated that Castle could conjure these contradictory feelings. He was much more frustrating than any other relationship she had ever had. He was also closer to knowing her than any other man she had ever been with. Was the relationship worth the cost?
"Greetings all, I come bearing gifts." Castle baritone voice interrupted her musings.
Kate looked up quickly. Just last night he had said he had not gone out of his building. She had urged him to go out and now here he was. She scrutinized his appearance. To most people he looked like Richard Castle, bad boy, pain in the ass, but Kate could look deeper. His eyes were a little to bright and there was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. His smile was also a little forced as well.
He carried a large box of donuts in one hand and a small oblong box in the other. He tucked the smaller box under his arm and sat the donut down upon the center desk and opened the lid. Given Castles powers of observation he knew what each of the detectives liked and had multiples of each. Rick grabbed a napkin and snagged a Bear Claw and brought it over to Beckett. He placed the pastry and the oblong box in front of her.
"Good morning Detective." He said as he sat down beside her desk.
"Castle." She lowered her voice. "I thought that you were going to be holed up in your study writing. What gives?"
"Well my therapist said I should try to get out of the apartment" He looked at her pointedly.
"Sounds like good advice to me."
"So, I tore myself away from Nikki Heat long enough to make the delivery, When I get back home, I will sequester myself again, most likely for the rest of the day."
"So what's in the box?"
"That, my dear Detective you will have to find out.'
With a little trepidation she opened the box. Nestled on a black velvet stand lay a beautifully decorated white mask, it started just above the mouth and covered the brow. The mask was set with beautiful purple, red and green stones. The sides and the top of the mask were decorated with delicate peacock feathers. The stones brought out the color in the feathers. The mask had a beautiful ethereal quality.
"Rick, it's beautiful." Kate gasped.
"I thought you would like to see it before you went hunting for a dress." He explained
"Hey, Castle, where's our masks?" Ryan asked.
"Planning to wear a dress, Kevin?"Beckett asked.
"No.. I.. " Ryan stammered
"Yours will be waiting for you at the party. You guys still need to RSVP, by the way so I can make sure I have masks for your dates."
"Dates? Can't we come stag?" Ryan asked.
"It's a Masquerade Ball Ryan, you going to dance with yourself?" Beckett queried.
"There will be a lot of food there, so if you don't bring a date you can stuff yourself like all the other wall flowers." Castle added.
"No, that's ok, I'll bring somebody."
"Well, this is fun, but I have to get back to Nikki, She is a stern, demanding Mistress, but fair." Rick stood to go.
"Castle," Kate called "We'll talk later"
"After my date with Nikki, I'll be at you beck and call" Castle promised.
A/N: Next up Repercussions of Castles outing and the Ball see you Wednesday (I Hope) :