Hi there!
Here's a one shot of 8X02 set five weeks into the future.
Story ideas, reviews, and one shot prompts are always welcome! Thanks for all the support!
Enjoy!
He pulls into the cul-de-sac of the Hamptons house, the lights timed on for the night. It's late and this was a rash decision, but he's had hell trying to sleep the last five weeks. He was hoping being here would calm his mind. God, he's tired and he just wants one nights rest.
He locks the Rari and strides up to the front door, stoops down, and grabs the spare from under the rug. The lock twists easily, and the door opens with a moan. He breathes in the salt and sandalwood of his house, the only place that feels foreign and familiar to him at the same time. Somethings off, though. The lights that are on timers are on,as they should be, but so is the light in his office. He knows that one shouldn't be on. He walks on egg shells towards the room, not sure why or how it's on. He's had the timers set in the house since it was bought; this one is manual.
He's about to peek around the door jamb when he sees a shadow; long, lean, hair tumbling down the figures back. It moves with grace and elegance through the little room. And that's when he knows exactly who it is.
"Kate."
She jumps, her hand going directly to her heart. "Oh my, God."
"What are you doing here?" It's almost ironic; fleeing to this place to try and forget and here stands the problem.
"I'm, I was just." She's stuttering, no real words coming out.
"So this is where you've been staying?" Now it made sense why he couldn't find his actual house key at the loft. He had chalked it up to stress when Kate had been the one to take it.
She drops her head, embarrassed. "It was the only place I knew to go."
There's a long pause between the two.
"Why are you here?" She asks him, her voice quiet.
"Well considering this is my house.." His voice drifts off after that, anger surging through him. Then he continues, "I just wanted a good night's sleep. I thought this would be a nice change in scenery."
"Oh, you should have told me you were coming."
"Kate, how does that make any sense? I've barely heard from you in five weeks." He looks at her questioningly, his brow scrunched.
"I don't know, I just." She just what? She really has no good answer, again.
"Kate." He says her name again. "I was going to try and get ahold of you tomorrow, but since you're here, I guess we can have this conversation now." He has to give himself a minute because once the next words come out of his mouth, it's as real as a bullet shooting through your chest. "My lawyer can write up divorce papers if that's what you want. I've already talked to him."
Kate, as if coming out of a daze, shot up and ran over to him. "What, wait, hold on. Why?"
"You left me. You haven't made any effort to see me or talk to me." He throws his arms up, raising his voice.
"I told you I had to work some things out and I would be back." She traces the wood grain, eyes down, knowing she's barely made any progress.
"It's been five weeks. That's a ridiculous amount of time. How much longer exactly are you planning to make me wait?" He's so tired, no fight left in him. Now, he's just spitting facts and words at her.
More silence. She hadn't even realized it had been that long. In her mind, the days had all run together and it had been, at most, 9 days. But five weeks? This was not good.
"Castle, I didn't realize it had been that long, I never would have left for as long as I did."
"Yeah but you did. You didn't think about me once. You left and all you cared about was fixing your problems and chasing your ghosts. I'm your husband and you left without a second thought."
It killed her that he thought it was easy for her to leave. It took her fifteen minutes before she could even pull away from the building. She had sat there, heavy sobs rocking her body with her hands on the steering wheel. Then, she finally gathered herself enough to turn on the ignition and drive out of the city. "I didn't mean to."
"But you did!" He slammed his fist into the desk, grinding his teeth. "You went away and you stayed away and you drove me to the point of calling my lawyer and thinking about divorce. You did this to us." He couldn't help himself. He held it in for so long and then all of a sudden here she was without any warning, discrediting his anger. How dare she? How dare she act as though she's not in the wrong?
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Tears streamed silently down her face as she discovered and rediscovered his pain with every blink of his eyes. She had done this to him, to them. She had destroyed everything they had worked for. How dare she do such a thing? This was all she ever wanted. Barely a year and she threw it away like a crumbled up piece of paper.
"Save it." He raised a hand at her. "I came up here to try and get my head right. You can stay but I can't do this right now." He turned his back, his face contorted into a frown. He couldn't look at her any longer. As pissed off as he was, her tears still broke his heart. But she had broken his and that wasn't okay.
So he ascended the stairs of his ocean hideaway, padded down the hall, and entered his bedroom. He went directly to the balcony, swinging the double doors towards him. The salty breeze hit him, the waves crashing as he stepped out onto the porch. Castle breathed in deeply as he scanned the sea. Scattered, little lights shown throughout the darkness, people on their party boats enjoying their Saturday night. How he envied their happiness. He let himself close his eyes for a moment and forget. He wished he was out on one of those boats, pure ecstasy running through his veins. He wished everything was simple again. He honestly wished his wife wasn't downstairs, the void between them a canyon. He wished none of this had ever happened.
Just like that, the sour taste in his mouth was there again, the same taste that had made residency in him all these days. And with that he had to force himself into bed and into unconsciousness.
Rick woke the next morning, pale light pouring in through the open balcony door. There was a light chill in his room, the ocean sending a shiver down his spine. He laid in bed for a moment, letting his mind regroup before he dealt with the splintered reality of his marriage. But it was hard to even have a moment when it followed him around, a dark cloud over his head at all moments of the day. And just like that, he didn't want to be in the house anymore. It was a waste of time coming up here when he could feel the same exact sadness from the loft. He would leave within the hour.
He pulled himself from the sheets, his caffeine levels dangerously low. It didn't take long before he realized he could already smell coffee wafting from the kitchen. He turned the last corner down the steps and saw Kate with a mug for herself and one on the counter, steam rising off both. Her bag was packed sitting near the door. He shuttered at the resemblance all these weeks later.
"You're up."
He turned his attention back to Kate. All he could do was nod.
"I made you a coffee." She offered him a small smile.
Castle nodded. "Thanks."
"How long are you staying?"
"I'm leaving as soon as I can."
There was no hesitation as she set her mug down and took a step towards him. "Castle, I want to come with you."
He closed his eyes and breathed out loudly. "Beckett."
"Rick, please." She cut him off. "I know I've been beyond awful. There's no excuse for my behavior. I was selfish and thoughtless and I regret it so much. I know you won't believe me, but I had no idea I had been gone so long. I got so caught up in my work that the days all ran together. The same thing happened when you were gone. Time wasn't even a factor until I looked at the days flying away. But I'm done with all of this." She took one more step towards him, her hands at her sides. "When I saw you last night, how much I've hurt you, it broke me. It showed me how bad of a wife I've been. I just hope you'll have the room in your heart to take me back."
"Kate."
She started quickly again. "I'm done chasing ghosts. I have too much to live for. I'm done with it, I promise you." Tears blurred her vision as she spoke. She was truly done and she hoped he could see that.
"You put me through hell." It's all he could say at this point. He didn't really expect for her to flip the situation 180 overnight.
"I'm so sorry. I hate myself for doing that to you. If I could go back and fix anything, it would be that moment I left the loft." Kate wiped at her eyes as the tears began to flow.
Rick couldn't speak for a moment as he watched the tears stream down her face. He knew that she was truly sorry, but that didn't change the fact that she had something to apologize for. But on top of that, he wanted his wife back so damn bad.
"There's going to be some rules." He started slow, choosing his words carefully. "You have to tell me what you're doing and where you're going. You have to talk to me; communication. We're a team. And if anything else, no secrets. It's us now, not I, not you. Us. And I'm not saying everything's going to go back to normal as soon as we get back to the city. It's going to take time for this to work itself out."
"So I can come back?" Her eyes grew wider and she took yet another step towards him.
He nodded, "Yes, you can come back with me."
"Oh, God, Rick, thank you. I'm so sorry." She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him on the cheek.
He couldn't help himself as he enveloped her in his arms. He had missed this so much. He breathed in slowly, finally feeling himself relax after so long. It felt so good to have her here with him again. This wasn't going to be easy, not by a long shot. But as long as she was willing to change and fight for them to get back to where they were, he was willing to make the journey with her. They were in this, together.
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