Enough is Enough

by Castlefan6

Authors Note: This is AU; A different scenario after Rick returns to the Precinct in Episodes 3-1. Based on a few quotes I live by,

"Castle, go home! Go back to your ex-wife, your Hamptons, your book parties, okay? I've got work to do." This is what prompted this story

I don't own Castle; I only use the characters for amusement purposes, except the ones I create.

Also, we take liberties with the timeline from Canon and use events to make this more believable fiction, thanks. Remember This IS AU. Timelines, Events, and Outcomes may vary from the Original Script.

WARNING! THIS MAY NOT END AS A CASKETT FIC. If that disturbs you, please delay reading until I decide which ending, I will choose.

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Chapter 4

12th Precinct

6:00 AM Next Morning

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Kate once again had trouble falling and staying asleep, her dreams were filled with images of Castle but this time, a new figure appeared. It was the doctor from last night's motorcycle crash, she couldn't figure out why he would pop into her dreams of Rick and her. Dr. Davis, or Davidson, she had forgotten his complete name, was on her mind when she left the accident and went home last evening.

She was so busy with the murder board that she didn't hear the elevator ding, and the desk Sargent walk her way carrying a huge bouquet of flowers, lilies, her favorite flower but how did they know?

"Excuse me, Detective, these just came for you, I thought I would bring them up before I left for the day," Sargent Deland said, looking like those who worked the graveyard shift usually did, very tired and sleepy.

"Thank you, Sargent, that was very kind of you, I appreciate the extra effort," Kate said, wondering who would send her flowers at work besides Castle, but he was avoiding her. She carefully opened the envelope that held the card, it read,

"Thank You for stopping to help last night, I was discharged with a clean bill of health. If you're not seeing anyone or aren't too busy, I would love to take you to dinner some evening. I'll understand if I don't hear back, the pretty ones are always taken,

Josh, AKA Josh Davidson, MD Presbyterian Hospital, Chief of Cardiology.

Wow, she thought, chief of cardiology, big job, and not hard to look at either. If Castle wanted to play games, then let them begin, she had a playmate now as well. She was still pissed that he was avoiding her, she knew he was home last night, and if he wasn't ready to talk, then he should have just said so. She made a special trip to his loft to be rejected, who the hell did he think he was?

She made no attempt to hide the flowers, and when the boys came in, just before 8:00 AM they assumed they were from Rick, and it was his way of trying to patch things up with Beckett. They were both still giving her the silent treatment, talking only when necessary, and only about work matters.

She decided to do her job and leave the mothering to their relatives, they caught a case around 10:00 AM and when she gave the order, "OK, 43rd and Lexington, we have a body, let's roll." The guys looked at each other, then Javi made the mistake of asking, "Aren't you going to call Castle, Beckett? We saw the flowers and thought"

"Well, you thought wrong, and you were the one that said Castle wasn't coming back, so no I'm not calling him. We got along fine before he weaseled his way into my life, we'll get along fine now that he has decided to play his silly games."

The guys gave each other a questioning look before Beckett added, "Who said the flowers were from him anyway. Mind your own damn business Esposito" Her tone was sharp and direct.

"As you wish, Detective" was the response, a look of disappointment and disgust on his face as they headed to their respective cars.

Beckett turned the radio on in her car, louder than normal since Rick wasn't sitting next to her rambling on and on about spies or mob hits or other trivial drabble that he normally did, the silence was eerie. Might as well get used to it Kate, he wanted to play games and so rather than being the adult she had made her mind up to wait him out. She was sure he would cave, as he always had in the past.

The crime scene was already taped off with yellow tape by the patrol officer who first responded to th call about shots fired. They had done a preliminary search and the shooter was not on site, but they had formed a four-block perimeter just in case he tried to slip through. It turned out to be a wise decision. About thirty minutes into their investigation Kate heard the radio broadcast that the patrol had a suspect in custody, found hiding under a kiddie pool two blocks away.

Lanie was on scene and just about finished with her examination when Beckett walked up and asked, "What do we have Lanie?" as she had done a thousand times before,

"Detective, the victim is a 25-year-old Hispanic male, shot three times with a small caliber firearm, I'm guessing a 22 caliber but won't have exact data until we complete the exam at the lab. There is presence of meth, on and around his body, meaning it could be a drug deal gone wrong, and I found these in his pockets." She held up currency bills folded into small squares resembling those used to purchase nickel bags of crack.

"Anything else Lanie?" Kate asked trying to bridge the obvious riff between her and her friend,

"You tell me, Detective. You blew off Castle yesterday and today you have flowers arriving at your desk from someone else. Why don't you have the guts to tell that man you're not interested rather than play these stupid games?" Lanie said as she stood motioned the crew to remove the body and walked away from a speechless Kate Beckett.

What the hell was going on with everyone, hell she hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't her fault that they jumped to conclusions, or that Ryan nearly shot him yesterday, she tried to tell herself, but even to her the words were hollow and meaningless. She knew Rick had paid a high price, a price she could have called off with just a word, perhaps she did want to see him hurt like she had all summer. The hell with it, she tried to call and even went to his building.

Of course, by this time, things had changed dramatically, why had Demming opened his big mouth? Without him spilling the beans, everything would be normal, Castle would be waiting for her to call rather than ignoring her and refusing to see her. He must be angry, or perhaps hurt. He was a big boy, who asked him to butt his nose into her business anyway.

She drove back to the precinct in silence, trying to convince herself that she was justified in what she did, still not convinced when she arrived. The case was an open-and-shut crime once Javi talked to a witness who was in her car and saw the entire thing go down.

Apparently, the victim and shooter both liked the same woman, and jealousy got the better of the shooter when the cousin, the victim, won her heart. He shot him as he went to enter his car after spending the night with his new girlfriend, and then he tried to make it look like a drug deal had gone bad. He didn't count on anyone leaving for work that early, or that anyone would talk to the cops, it was a neighborhood where no one saw anything.

A few hours later Kate's desk phone rang when she answered she was pleasantly surprised, it was Dr. Josh Davidson.

"Hi Kate, I'm sorry to bother you at work, but it's the only number on your business card. I was hoping that you"

"Thanks for the flowers, Josh, they're lovely. How did you know lilies were my favorite flower?" she asked,

"I might have asked a colleague of mine who knows a colleague of yours to tell me, but anyway I'm glad they arrived, and you like them, again I'm sorry to bother you at work." He said very politely,

"Well, here is my cell phone if you would like to honor that dinner you mentioned" she flirted as she repeated her cell phone number, and twirled her hair as she was talking low. All of her actions weren't lost on the boys, but by now they were fed up with her, and the way she had treated Castle. They decided to stay out of it, and if that was the way she treated friends, then things now were business, strictly business.

THREE DAYS LATER

Castle had gone back and forth arguing with himself about talking to her, he was acting childish by not returning her calls or seeing her, but he knew if he had he would have fallen into that same old trap of allowing her to get away with any and everything. This time she crossed the line, she was the one that told him to go home, she was the one that said she needed to think, so he gave her time. Truth be, he needed the time as well.

Finally, he decided to call her to see if they could meet to talk, he wasn't a spiteful person, and he wanted to resolve the issues with Beckett regardless of if he got the opportunity to write a certain British Secret Agent or not. He dialed her cell phone and waited for her to pick up,

"Hi Castle, have you decided to allow me to have an audience with the almighty famous author? I saw you when I was practically thrown out of your loft last week. Why are you calling?" she asked her tone bitter and hurtful,

"Well, you're correct Beckett, I was home, but just as you needed time, so did I. I found out the entire story, of how you allowed me to take the brunt of that awful treatment because EVERYONE thought I stood you up in front of them to take Gina to the Hamptons. Even though you never said a word, it was still a lie by omission, and well, the guys were pretty steamed about it." He said softly,

"I know, they still are. I'm the lepper in my own place of work because you got your feeling hurt, well, did you ever think that my feelings were hurt all last summer?" she spat

"May I remind you that it was you who lied when I first invited you, you lied to be with Tom when all you had to say was, I have plans with my boyfriend. That would have been the end of it since I don't tread on other men's territory. It wasn't until Demming mentioned beach house within earshot that I had any clue, so my apologies Detective for overstepping. "he said in a plain even tone, showing no emotions,

"Would it Rick? Maybe I lied because I wanted my private life to be private, not live it on page six of the daily newspaper. Or perhaps it was because whom I see or what I do on my own time is really no one's business. So back to the question, why did you call?" She asked, showing the emotions in her voice,

"We both needed time before we talked, so if you still want to talk,"

"I don't think so Rick, I'm dealing with enough fallout from Roy and my team, I don't want to open myself up to any more judgment if things don't go the way you or they think they should."

"OK, fine, Thanks for the opportunity to shadow you, Kate, just so you know Nikki Heat has two more books coming out and then the series and your problems will be over. Take care of yourself, and I'm sorry for any pain I've caused you." He said, sadly as she heard the click of a phone being hung up.

She sat for a minute staring at her phone, what had she done, did she just throw Castle away again in the hope of something with a handsome heart surgeon?

TWO WEEKS LATER

Remy's Restaurant

Rick was meeting Gina for lunch to hand over all of the revisions she had asked for when she edited the final Nikki Heat novel. She didn't like the title, so he changed it, from Destroyed Heat to Extinguished Heat, He also didn't kill anyone, at Gina's request, so he had Rook get sent to England for a special assignment and come back with a bride six months later. He placed all of the faults on Rook, letting Nikki remain the champion and hero to the readers.

He arrived early and took the booth two behind where he and Beckett had sat on so many occasions after cases, some to celebrate, some to mourn, and some to just try and forget how evil some people could be to each other. He watched the door, and Gina appeared five minutes later, he stood, greeted her with a hug and kiss, and then sat down.

It had been tough to tell Gina he was leaving, but she understood his fascination with the character and told him since he was leaving in good standing, he could always come back to Black Pawn. She was thrilled to have the second and third books released at her discretion, based on sales of the preceding book. The series was making them all a lot of money, and Gina was happy for Rick, both as a friend and a writer to follow his passion.

"So, Rick, have you told your muse that you are not only ending the series but leaving New York as well?" Gina asked,

"I haven't spoken to her for a couple of weeks, so no, I haven't. It isn't a big deal to her; she probably will be thrilled to see both me and the books leave." He said, sadly,

"Oh, come on Rick, you know that isn't true. Remember I'm the only one who has been Mrs. Castle that is editing those long love letters you write to her using Jameson as your media." She smiled

Rick blushed, "Well, it's time to see life as it is, not how you want it to be, and as for devotion, it takes two to make a relationship as you well know. She's interested in someone else, I just heard she has received flowers a few times at the precinct, and the only reason I got wind of it at all was Lanie called me to say how smooth a move flowers were. She and everyone thought I had sent them, but apparently, Beckett has someone." Rick said, then munched on an onion ring as if it wasn't a big deal.

Gina was facing the door and said quietly, "You're right Rick, and they are waiting to be seated now, so turn around slowly". He did and there was Kate in her motorcycle outfit, holding her helmet, and behind her was the tall, handsome doctor dressed in the same apparel.

"Oh, so it is true Rick said as he returned to his normal seating position, she does have a Dr. Motorcycle boy as her next victim." Rick smiled, Not my name for him, Kevin Ryan's when he called to ask me some questions and let it slip that he and Javi thought the guy was a pompous ass." Rick said

"You're OK with this Rick, I mean," Gina asked

"Of course, I'm OK with it, she isn't promised to me, hell we never even went on a date. She said she wanted her private life to be private, so I guess that was who and what she was talking about." Rick said as he reached over to Gina's plate and speared a couple of French fries. She playfully smacked his hand, "Somethings never change, Rick" and smiled, remembering better times between the two of them.

"She made her choice with Demming, and then threw him overboard, we'll see how long this one lasts, or maybe he's her prince charming. She always did want a successful businessman who had a secure future." Rick said as he sipped on his milkshake,

"Successful businessman? Does she have any idea of your net worth Rick" Gina asked exasperated that Beckett would think Rick was still a starving writer trying to make it in the industry,

"I have no idea, Gina, she does a lot of research, so I'm sure she has a clue. It doesn't matter now, I mean when will I ever see her again anyway. She'll be here and I'll be in the UK, splitting time there and in Los Angeles." He said,

"Speaking of Los Angeles, I can't tell you how thrilled everyone at Black Pawn is to have Heatwave being made into a movie, it's our first book to film and Uncle James is crowing like a horny rooster at daybreak," Gina said, as Rick almost spit his milkshake out, he was laughing so hard,

"Well, I'm glad you agreed to be the eyes and ears watching it when I'm in the UK, it means a lot to me Gina, so thank you. I know you love New York, and all of your interests are here, but if the film does well, who knows where it will go." Rick said,

"You're welcome Rick, it's going to be nice to enjoy some warm temperatures instead of shoveling snow here for days on end," she laughed, "I'm glad to do it,"

Josh and Beckett had left Remy's and although Rick couldn't see them, he heard the two Harley Motorcycles rev up their engines before peeling away from the restaurant. He thought to himself, it was better this way if she could find a guy that quick, maybe she had been shopping longer than he thought.

TBC