Dinner with a Colleague

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: No, it all belongs to someone else, not me. Rating: M. Time: Several days after Suicide Squeeze.

Castle sat down in his usual chair. Beckett glanced up at him and then immediately returned to the paperwork on her desk.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No." she replied sarcastically, "Why should anything be wrong?"

"You're sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." She snapped.

Castle sat there for a few moments, hoping she'd explain further. She didn't. "Maybe if you told me what I did?"

Beckett took a deep breath, then turned to face Castle. "Sorry. You haven't done a thing wrong. It's that bastard Fox. He's hired every lawyer, forensics specialist, private detective, and…."Beckett pushed her chair back from her desk and threw up her hands. "He murdered Cano Vega and now I'm up to my ears in requests from his lawyers. I'll be here for years while he weasels his way out of a murder charge."

"But you won't give up, will you?"

Beckett shook her head and then laughed. "Never. So, how did your day go? Did you write anything?"

"Nearly four thousand words. But, best of all, I figured out how "Zombie" Coleman escaped from Nikki Heat."

Beckett waited. "You're going to tell me, right?"

"Don't you want to be surprised when the book comes out?" Castle asked innocently.

Beckett narrowed her eyes and stared into Castle's eyes. "I spent most of yesterday answering your idiotic questions. How did he get away? Grabbed by time traveling CIA agents? Turn himself into a bat and fly away? Did he dematerialize and walk through the wall? Talk, Castle."

"I decided that what you said was right. The escape should be simple and believable. He grabbed a hostage, a young girl. Nikki was afraid to shoot for fear of hitting her."

"That sort of thing could actually happen in the real world. Do you understand that?" Beckett teased.

Castle shrugged. "I'll make up for it in the climax. A mad doctor will turn him into a gryphon and Nikki will have to kill them both while wearing the Cloak of Invisibility."

Beckett laughed. "What time is it anyway?"

Castle checked his watch. "A little before six. I think you've been here for about thirteen hours. Right?"

Beckett nodded. "I need dinner." She said quietly.

Castle had been waiting to hear that since their dinner at Remy's. "Your colleague could use some food, too. Should we go together? How about Jimmy's, the seafood place I told you about?"

Beckett nodded again. "That sound great. Let me go home and shower and change. Can you pick me up?"

"No problem. Pick you up at 7:30? Time enough?"

"7:30 it is. See you then."

Castle drove up to Beckett's apartment building a few minutes early, but Kate as standing on the curb waiting for him. She wore a dark blue Empire-waisted dress, tight at the bust but loose and flowing below. The dress ended some four inches above her knees. Kate didn't wait for Castle to get out of the car to open the door for her, but hopped into the car, briefly showing Castle much of her long, trim legs. Castle had a brief flashback to the two of them outside her door. "Looking good, colleague." Was all he said.

Once at Jimmy's they were greeted by a small, slim Asian woman. "Mr. Castle. Good to see you again. Would you like a table or a booth?"

"A booth." Kate said quickly.

"A booth it is, Jennifer. Lead on. And some wine." Rick turned to Kate. "The house white wine is excellent here."

When seated at the booth, Kate quickly slid from the far side of the booth so that she was sitting right next to Castle. "Hi, colleague." She said with a smile.

They were interrupted by a male voice. "Mr. Castle, Alexis, how good to…"

The speaker was a dark complexioned, older man, going grey and dressed in a suit. He looked at Kate with an embarrassed look on his face. He quickly put a bottle of wine and two glasses down on the table.

"Max!" Castle said, "Nice to see you again. May I introduce you to Detective Kate Beckett? Kate, this is Max Bergeron, the owner and manager."

"My pleasure, detective. When Jennifer told me that Rick was here with a lovely young lady, I naturally assumed it was Alexis."

"Not tonight, Max. But I assure you she's dying to come here again. Soon. She absolutely loves to eat here and so she should. This is the best seafood place in New York."

Max beamed with pleasure at the compliment. "Would you two like an appetizer?"

"Of course. The Castle Plate for two, please."

Max hurried away.

"Max heard you were here with a lovely young lady, and he naturally assumed it was Alexis?"

"This is where I eat with family. Just Alexis and mom. Well, Gina came here twice, but she hated it. She said that no one important ate here." Castle shook his head. "When she said Alexis and I were no one important, I should have wondered about the state of our marriage."

"You never took any other young ladies…"Kate began.

"Never." Castle said firmly.

"I'm flattered, Castle."

"You should be. I intended to flatter you and I intend to flatter you a lot more in the future."

"Thank you. That's sweet."

Castle's smile faded and he became more serious. "Kate, I still feel terrible about what happened with Coonan. I should have thought things through. I know what I cost you when he died. I really want to do something, but I can't think of a thing."

Kate smiled. "As much as I would love to spend time watching Richard Castle be unable to come up with some bizarre solution to my problem, I did the right thing and the best thing for me. What's happening with Bobby Fox is proof of that."

Castle was confused. "How? What does Fox have to do with anything?"

"What did I tell you when I said you weren't to look into my mother's case?"

"Um, you said you'd spent three years looking into it and you just had to let it go. It was going to consume you."

"I also said that I couldn't stomach the idea of my mom's killer making some deal and walking away after ten years in prison."

"Coonan would have done exactly what Fox is trying to do, weasel out of a murder charge. But Coonan was a professional killer with ties to the drug trade in Afghanistan. He'd have gone to the DEA, the FBI, the CIA even, and made a deal in exchange for his testimony. At worst, he'd have done a few years in some Club Fed and then he'd have been off into the witness protection program, laughing at me the whole way." Kate picked up her glass of wine and raised it in a toast. "So here's to Dick Coonan burning in Hell." She and Rick drank.

"You still have no leads, Kate."

"But we do. We know that three other people were killed at about the same time by Coonan. There was another lawyer, a law student and a documents clerk. It's possible they weren't connected but I have all of the old files on their murders back at my place. Since they're officially closed cases, I can't work on them at the precinct."

"Need any help?"

Kate smiled. "I'd love your help. But they're not the only leads we have. We've gotten warrants to search Coonan's apartment, his office, we've got his phone records, his financials, everything."

Castle frowned. "It's been more than ten years."

Kate shrugged. "Maybe we'll find nothing. Then we'll be where I was before we ever met, except now that bastard is dead."

Jennifer arrived and placed a platter in front of the two. "A Castle Plate for two." She announced and left.

"A Castle Plate?" Kate said, trying to look stern.

Castle just nodded, ignoring the look. "Maryland crab cakes, hush puppies and a bottle of Louisiana hot sauce. I ran across this combination when I wrote Storm's Hurricane."

"Storm's Hurricane? I've never heard of any such book, Castle. Are you trying to mess with my mind again?"

"Right after the first Derrick Storm novel came out, I was asked to write a short story for a mystery anthology. It featured Derrick Storm in New Orleans during a hurricane. He was trapped with a Cajun chef in a fancy restaurant by a dozen killers. For a lot of reasons the book was never published, but I got to spend a lot of time with a great chef, Clothile Boudreaux."

"I can imagine what Clothile looked like, knowing you."

Castle laughed. "Have you ever seen a slim, svelte chef? Clothile weighed over three hundred pounds. And she said she loved food more than sex. I did get a couple of promotional books from the publisher, though. I'll autograph my contribution and give it to you."

"Thank you. That's very sweet."

Kate picked up her fork, but Castle stopped her. "No, no. There's a proper way to eat a Castle Plate. Let me show you." Castle used his fork to cut off a portion of the crab cake. Then he cut off a part of the hush puppy. He skewered both pieces with his fork, put one drop of hot sauce on each piece. "Open wide, Beckett." Kate opened her mouth and Castle gently fed her the appetizer.

"That's good. Zingy, but good." Castle smiled like a happy ten year old. Kate picked up her fork again. "My turn, Castle."

Kate carefully cut the two appetizers, added the hot sauce and popped the result into Castle's mouth.

From the kitchen Max and Jennifer watched their favorite customer and his date. "What do you think, Max?"

"I like her a lot better than that Gina."

Jennifer snorted. "I like everyone better than that Gina."

"You should go find out what they want for the main course."

Jennifer smiled to herself when she saw Mr. Castle and his date. They were busily feeding each other the appetizers. Castle had a small smear of hot sauce on his chin and his lovely date was trying to wipe it off while both continued to feed each other.

"Would you care to order?" Jennifer asked, not managing to keep the laugh out of her voice.

"Do you need a menu, Beckett?" Castle asked.

Kate shook her head. "Why don't you order for us both?"

"In that case, we'll have the crab stuffed tiger prawns on a bed of wild rice and the fresh snow peas. We should also have the garden salad with thousand island dressing for me and…" He looked expectantly at Beckett.

"Thousand island will be fine."

Jennifer went back to the kitchen and Castle and Beckett went back to feeding each other.

They hadn't quite finished the appetizer when their salad arrived. By the time they finished their salad, the main dish was served.

Beckett was done with her meal, but Castle was still eating. She slid as close to him as she could get and lightly put her hand on his thigh. No reaction. Beckett smiled to herself. He was happy she was touching him, she was sure. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She was happy. After so much time, she was happy.

Max and Jennifer watched from the shadows of the kitchen.

"So what do you think, Max?"

"I still like her a whole lot more than I liked that Gina."

"Max, you schmuck, he likes her a lot more than that Gina."

"But he married Gina."

"Max, you are such a schmuck."

Beckett sighed contentedly. Castle had stopped eating, so she took his hand and put it on her thigh, just above the knee. "Rick," she said softly, "I'm not wearing a thing under this dress, as you'll find out when we get home." Kate giggled. "Unless you'd like some dessert right now."

"I can wait." Rick twisted and kissed her lightly on her forehead.

"There's so much I want to do for you, for all that you've done for me."

Suddenly Castle pulled his hand away from Kate's thigh and quickly slid away from her. The shock and hurt was plain on Kate's face. What did I do wrong? She thought. How could I have so misread him? How could he not want me after what happened before?