Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, just the boundless domain of my wicked imagination... so humble.
A/N: Thanks again to Keddster, my under cover beta! Please post a review! I desperately need the motivation!
Chapter 2
"Kyra?" Castle stared slack jawed at the woman approaching him. She looked just as beautiful in her North Face raincoat, jeans, and thick, forest green scarf as she did in her wedding gown. She was face to face with him now as she murmured, "Rick," under her breath in equal amazement. They hadn't spoken since that night at the precinct when she sealed the end of their chapter with a gentle kiss to his cheek.
"Oh my God, Kyra! How are you? You look, well stunning as usual." Rick exclaimed once he got his shock under control and gave her a gentle hug. "Sorry I am all sweaty and gross, I just… well it's a welcomed surprise to run into you, literally," Rick added, pulling away; but she clutches his shirt at his back like a lifeline.
"Yeah more than welcomed; your still running like a maniac I see," Kyra replied, stepping back to observe him. He still had his charming, mischievous smile that lights up his blue eyes, his hair was longer and it flopped over his forehead from his run, his jaw was sharply defined, his shoulders carried that same broad strength that use to lift her off her farm fence during the summer weekends upstate, and he still had those muscular arms that once bound around her to comfort and protect her against her mother's criticism. Rick; still the Rick she remembers, her Rick.
"Yep, still running. I can't seem to kick the habit. I guess I need the high and I figured crack is just too expensive these days," Castle joked and Kyra easily gave him a smile.
"Really, because I know a guy that has some great crack on clearance, even offers coupons. But aren't you supposed to be some sort of millionaire author?" she volleyed back.
"Clearance and coupons? Mhm, seems just a little questionable, but what the hell?" he offered and again, an easy smile formed on Kyra's lips, no hesitation, no hang ups.
"So of all the days, in all the parks, and on all the paths we just happened to run into each other here, like this. Again. I am getting this weird sense of déjà vu, you feel that?" she asked.
"A bit, luckily I haven't seen any bridesmaids dropping out of closets today." Castle said and saw the flicker of discomfort in her eyes. "Sorry, that was insensitive of me, I guess I'm used to the sardonic humor at the precinct."
"Oh no its fine, I'm just not used to all that Rick Castle macabre. It's been a while."
"That it has, too long. Did I already say you look stunning?" he breathlessly asked, realizing his breathing is just now evening out after his running and the excitement of stumbling upon Kyra. She blushed, glancing down to the ground, her curls falling over her face.
"Oh sorry, ugh married woman," he gesturing to her, "incorrigible flirt," he finished, gesturing to himself. Kyra looked up to catch his gaze with a broken smile and glossy eyes.
"No. Incorrigible flirt," she placed her right hand on his chest, "Woman," she said, placing her ringless left hand over her chest. She shrugged her shoulders at his perplexed look and slid her hand down his chest admiring the solid mass of his muscled body.
"Greg is…" Castle asked at a loss for words.
"Greg is, well, Greg is a cheating bastard. Not that I am bitter or anything," Kyra said sarcastically with a surprisingly light tone and a genuine smirk still gracing her lips. She had always been so strong and resilient in the face of disappointment. It's probably the reason she never contacted Castle after he didn't follow her to London.
"Kyra, I am so sorry. Do you want me to go beat him up? He may have an inch or two on me, but I am pretty sure I am bulkier. Plus I have been watching how the boys at the 12th take down scumbags and I think Greg could make for a decent test run for me… and," he staggered off in his ramble of protective indignation over Kyra, who was softly laughing at his enthusiasm.
"And, and you're laughing at me?" he asked with a quirk of his head and smile.
"Yes Rick I am laughing at you and your incredibly sweet machoism. Thanks for the offer but I think my mother berated and shamed him enough, but at our next settlement hearing I'll see if he needs a beat down."
"You know I'm good for it," he resolutely replied, "But I am really sorry you have to go through all that shit, you are the last person who deserves it. Believe me when I say that I know exactly how you are feeling," Castle admitted.
"Oh really, you know what its like to find your spouse knee deep in a blonde Barbie secretary?" she asked, a little put off as shown by her thin lipped frown and furrowed brows.
"Not quite, I know what its like to find my wife riding her director of a movie that I pulled strings for, with my four year old daughter napping up-stairs. However, there are striking similarities, wouldn't you say?" he countered with anger sparking like flint at the memory.
"Oh." Was all Kyra could manage in her state of shock and embarrassment. "Suddenly I am feeling like a bit of a bitch," she added laughingly.
"That's an adjective I would never use to describe you." Rick offered with a natural smile that dismantles the bitterness of their respective failed marriages. She repays with a more vibrant smile that she has always kept on tap for him. And just like that, all the wonderful memories of their summer on their rooftop, weekends at her family's estate, and quite nights in came flooding back and he felt like they were right back there.
"So, I know you were running towards 59th, but would you be interested in rerouting and joining me?" Kyra tentatively asked while running a hand through her thick mane. "I'll even throw in coffee."
"Alright you've convinced me. Always such a sales woman, but then again I could never really resist you, could I?" he said breaking out his charismatic Playboy charm.
"Mhmm, you really are and incorrigible flirt aren't you." Kyra laughed, giving him a gentle shove on his bulky shoulder.
They walked down the path side by side, easily slipping into casual conversation. It was never hard to get lost in a labyrinth of conversation with Kyra. Rick and her always just strolled their way through topics and ideas, fueled by each other's creative minds.
They caught up on what they have been up to lately. Kyra explained that she has opened another art gallery and is working with partners in Paris to catch a few rising artists on the scene there. Her eye for artistic talent was astounding; in fact it was Kyra who convinced Rick that his writing deserved publication, even after being denied by countless publishing houses.
Rick told his stories of working with Beckett and the boys at the 12th and how it has become more than just research for him. He got lost in telling her how he finally felt like he was doing something noble and worthwhile. Castle tried to explain the feeling of satisfaction, pride, and accomplishment that washed over him when he helped bring closure to the victim's family. Of course many of his stories featured Beckett as the leading lady and that caught Kyra's attention.
"You and Beckett, are you guys together?" she finally blurted out with a sense of jealousy in the back of her mind that was completely irrational. She had no claim over Rick, she left him to move to London and then again to walk down the aisle toward another man. Yet part of her would always carry that flame of what they once shared.
"No. We are… we may have…um," he stammered trying to accurately describe what it was exactly that he and Beckett were. They weren't together, he was painfully aware of that; yet he felt committed to her, which made it impossible to say he was single. It was complicated to say the least.
"We are not together, no. But…" and again he was at a lost.
"But... You want to be together?" Kyra supplied.
In his mind he was immediately screamed, God yes! It's all he has wanted for the past four years. But he was angry and hurt now. He was sick of being painted as the unhelpful pain in her ass. He was more than that God damn it, he was her partner, and she just would not give him the credit.
But what was he basing this hope of a pending relationship with her on?
An obscure promise wrapped in convoluted subtext, that if she solved her mother's case she could have the kind of relationship she wanted. Nothing was said about she and him. Part of Castle wanted to believe that the little touches, the lingering stares, and the uninhibited smiles that blossomed between them lately meant that he was scaling her walls, moving forward.
Another part of him wondered if it was all just his imagination assigning significance to meaningless gestures. As these weeks passed and she seemed constantly irritated and aggravated by him, the latter part of him was gaining more convincing evidence. Suddenly, Lewis Caroll's words struck Castle with the truth that, "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."
"Rick?" She asked focusing his attention again, "You want to be together?"
"You know Kyra, I thought I did, but I've been thinking lately that is just isn't going to happen. But, hey, a guy can hope and try," Castle replied with an accepting tone. He would keep running.
A/N: REVIEW! pretty please!