Together with You
Chapter Summary: It was the day when Kate returned from her trip to France, and Rick was still a paragraph away from finishing his draft. He was already three days late on his deadline with Gina, so it wasn't all that surprising that he was paid a visit for his procrastinating.
Rick was muttering some dialogues with himself using two action figures he had pulled out from his chest – Hawkeye and Black Widow from the Avengers.
"If you couldn't remember, why not just tell me?" he asked in a manly voice, moving Hawkeye appropriately.
"I just wasn't ready yet. We can't just settle down just like that!" Rick said in a slightly higher octave to roleplay Black Widow.
"Richard Castle, aren't you too old to be playing with those things?" his mother Martha reprimanded as she walked into the office.
"It's for my book mother. I'm relaying a scene in my head and see how it unfolds," Rick defended, straightening up as he set down the action figures.
"The deadline of which was three days ago. What exactly is preventing you from finishing it?" Martha asked.
"Writer's block," Rick answered immediately.
"Well dear, whatever the case may be, you have a guest at the door," Martha said with a wave of her hand as she handed her son some envelopes from the mail.
Rick visibly frowned as he half-rose from his seat. "A guest?" he wondered out loud, a bit anxious as he moved around his desk and moved to answer the door. Pulling it open, he jumped back in a little shriek. "Gaaah!" he exclaimed for good measure as he quickly walked away, swinging the door closed on their guest.
"Richard!" Martha scolded again, moving to pull the door open again. "I'm so sorry Gina," she apologized.
"No worries Martha," Gina said with a smile as she stepped inside and glanced pointedly at Rick who had moved towards the kitchen. "I just came to check up on your progress. And hopefully pick up my promised manuscript," she said in a business tone.
"You'll get it when it's done," Rick grumbled, pulling out a carton of juice from the fridge.
"Rick, I still need to proof-read it," Gina remarked.
"And you can't rush-"
"Genius, I know," Gina interjected immediately, walking up to the counter and set her back down on none of the chairs. "But three days overdue, Rick? How much more do you need to write before you're done?" she asked.
Rick stared blankly at his drink as he swirled it randomly, tracing a circle with his glass. "A paragraph," he answered.
"What?" Gina shrieked, slamming her hands on the counter. "Then finish it already!"
"I can't!"
"Why not?"
"I don't know how to end it…" Rick answered quietly, glancing up at Gina.
Gina returned his gaze and sighed before walking up to him, took the glass and set it down on the island counter and grabbed his wrist, pulling him back to the office.
"H-Hey! Let go!" Rick complained.
Gina sat him down on his chair and fired up his laptop. "You're going to sit here and finish that last paragraph so I can get a copy and actually do my job," she insisted.
"Didn't you hear me? I can't!" Rick insisted.
"Do you want to have this on your shoulders when Agent Beckett arrives?" Gina challenged, pointing at his desk calendar for emphasis.
Rick quieted down and glanced at the screen of his laptop, awoken from its sleep after he stared at it for half an hour two hours ago trying to come up with a closing paragraph but to no avail. "Alright," he finally said, pulling himself closer to the desk. "I'll finish it now," he promised, stealing a glance over to the picture of him and Kate before he stared at his laptop for a while before his fingers began to type up a storm.
It took the mystery writer 20 minutes to finish the paragraph and make the necessary edits before glancing at Gina, outstretching an arm towards her. "USB," he requested.
"About time," Gina said, handing him the device to put a copy of his manuscript into for her own review. Once it was safely removed and handed back to her, she placed it back into her bag. "I'll email you my comments and edits," she said before finally leaving.
Rick sighed and saved his work before leaning back on his chair, relieved that the stress was over. But his phone suddenly decided to jostle him back up as it vibrated violently inside his pants pocket. Retrieving it, he glanced at the screen as his eyes widened.
It was a name he wasn't expecting to call him… at least this early.
It was Kate. With shaky hands, Rick's thumb hovered over the green button to accept the call, holding the phone up to his ear when the call pushed through.
"Hello?"
TBC
