This will probably be tonight's last chapter because I'm getting tired and have yet to do my homework. I have a rough idea of what path I want the story to follow, but I can't be sure as to how quickly I'll be able to get it done.
Disclaimer: If I owned Castle, Castle would still have some scruff.
Chapter 4
Late November:
"Wow Castle. Are you trying to cheer me up or somethin'?" Beckett teased lightheartedly as she wandered into the kitchen after taking a shower to decompress and wash the grime of the day off. "I don't know. I just felt like cooking tonight." Castle distractedly responded. "Mm, well I might just have to reward you for that feeling later." Kate seductively whispered in his ear as she snaked her arms around his middle. Castle grunted momentarily losing focus on getting the pasta sauce just right as his temptress of a fiancee used her bedroom voice on him. "Is Martha gonna be gone tonight?" Kate asked. "Because I wouldn't mind some of that red wine I love and you know I can get a little loud after drinking that." Kate informed the man currently having difficulty restraining himself from jumping her right there in the middle of the kitchen.
"Honey, please save it for later, I really don't want to ruin dinner. And if you must know, yes my mother will be gone tonight. However, sadly enough we drank up all of that red wine you, and I, both like so much." Castle lied to his fiancee about their current stock of wine because he knew if she started drinking that and they had company over, it would end in embarrassment and a need for mind bleach.
"Castle are you okay?" Kate questioned. She found it odd that Castle was resisting her so much. She wouldn't mind skipping dinner altogether and going straight to dessert and there wasn't anyone else in the loft. Why was he acting so weird? She wondered. "What? Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Totally cool. Why don't you take a seat this is almost ready." Castle nervously tried to act normal and took the chicken out of the oven.
A few minutes later the doorbell rang and Beckett wondered who it could be. She looked at the table and saw that there was a third place set that she had failed to notice. "Did you invite someone over?" She asked Castle as he made his way over to the door. "Uh . . . yeah." Castle replied. Beckett got up from her seat as Castle opened the door and when she saw who was on the other side she became furious.
"Hi Rick." Charlie greeted. "Hey Ch-" Castle was interrupted by Kate's exasperated outburst. "What the hell Castle?! You invited her here? When did you even get in touch with her? I cannot believe you right now." Beckett stormed off to their bedroom and Castle apologized to Charlie before taking off after Kate.
"Look, I know you're mad at me but-" "Mad?" Kate was shocked at the fact that Castle could do this to her. "Castle I am so far beyond mad right now. I can't even- ugh!" "Kate?" Castle gently prodded. "I invited her here because I knew you wouldn't." "Wha-." Castle held up his hand to halt Kate's question. "Let me finish. You are stubborn Kate and you shouldn't be expected to let Charlie back in, but I know you. And if you just let her walk out of your life without another thought, you are going to regret it and you would never forgive yourself. And as a result of that, I would never forgive myself. So, I invited her for dinner. I think we should go out there and you can pretend she's not even there you don't have to talk to her, but I know you're hungry right now and if I may say so myself, there is some mouth-wateringly delicious food on the table ready for consumption." Castle took a deep breath after finishing his long speech. He didn't know what to think of the stoic look on Kate's face. Her silence was beginning to unnerve him.
"Fine, but don't expect me to play nice." Kate relented. "Phew . . . okay." Castle hoped he wouldn't have to break up a cat fight at any point in the night. Ooh . . . probably shouldn't say cat fight in front of Beckett. Castle thought. Beckett abruptly turned on her heel and leveled Castle with a glare. "And you are so not getting lucky tonight." "Yeah . . . I kinda figured that." Castle defeatedly sighed.
When Beckett and Castle came out of the bedroom and took their seats at the table Charlie looked up and smiled. "This all looks and smells delicious Rick." "Thank you, I rather enjoy cooking and it's nice to be able to cook for more than just two." "Well, maybe we will find ourselves doing this again sometime." Charlie wondered "Yeah mayb-." "I'm sorry are we really doing this right now?!" Kate couldn't take it anymore she felt like she was in a parallel universe. "You two are acting like we have dinner like this weekly. I haven't had a meal with you in fifteen years Charlie. Cut the damn chit chat and tell me why you're here." Kate was done beating around the bush she was ready to talk even if it meant revisiting a painful past.
"I'm here because I regret what I did in the past and I want to fix things between us." Charlie began a night of revealing truths. "Well if you regret it so much, then why did you leave?" Kate asked. "Because I was a coward and I was scared." A silence fell on the group and no one was willing to break it. Finally, Charlie said, "Katie- Kate, I am so sorry. And I know that word is eventually going to lose its meaning because I don't know how else to express the regret I feel. I just want you to know that-" "Why didn't you come home when I got shot?" Kate whispered. Castle choked on a sip of wine. Kate acted as though she wasn't going to talk to her sister, and not only is she talking to her, she dove into the conversation head first.
"Uh . . ." Charlie was speechless after Kate dropped the bomb that was the topic of her shooting. "Did you even know I got shot?" Kate questioned. "Yes, I knew." Charlie drew in a shaky breath and continued talking. "You remember that dog we had when we were little? Her name was Daisy. Dad and Mom got her a little while before I was born." Beckett had a shocked look on her face after hearing the mention of Daisy. "Seriously? I just asked you why you didn't show your face after I got shot and you bring up a goddamn dog?!" Kate scoffed and shook her head.
"Just- it will all make sense in the end." Charlie tried to convince. "When I was twelve, Daisy died. She was old and Dad had told me it would just happen one day. I thought I was ready for it. That I'd be able to handle it, but when it happened I felt like I couldn't breath. I loved that dog so much. She was my best friend, she followed me around everywhere and I was devastated when she passed away." "I'm sorry are you telling me that you were more broken up over your dog's death than our mother's?" "What? No! I'm trying to explain my reaction to Mom's death." Charlie clarified.
"After Daisy died, I ran away from home. I don't know if you remember-." "I do." Kate interrupted. "Okay. Anyways, I was gone for about five hours. Mom and Dad checked parks we went to and my friends' houses. They were scared out of their minds and eventually found me hiding under the slide in Lisa Henderson's backyard bawling my eyes out. Eventually I got over it and accepted that Daisy was gone, but that was the first traumatic experience I'd ever gone through at the time."
Castle was leaning back in his chair captivated by Charlie's words and rubbing slow, soothing circles on Kate's hand under the table.
"Ever since then, whenever someone close to me has died, I've run away. It's what I do and I feel like I have no control over it, like it's just engrained in my DNA." "It must run in the family." Castle pipes up and receives an elbow to the ribs for his remark. "Sorry, please continue." Castle apologized.
"I know you think Mom's death didn't affect me, but that's not true. I wasn't as close to Mom and Dad as you were. You and Mom would watch Temptation Lane marathons and you and Dad went to baseball games all the time. I wanted to be a doctor, so I checked out of family life and kept my head in textbooks. I did everything in my power to become the best doctor I could be, and I did that, but I did that at the cost of my family. That doesn't mean that I didn't love Mom any less than you did though." Charlie had never spoken these thoughts aloud and she felt relieved to get them off of her chest.
"You still haven't answered my question." Kate brought up. "I know, still getting to that." Charlie said. "I was watching the news one morning. I knew you were a cop, a good one. I didn't really know how I felt about that, but I realized it scared the shit out of me when I saw your picture up on the t.v. screen with the heading 'Police Detective Shot at Captain's Funeral'." A tear slipped down Charlie's cheek and a part of Kate wanted to forget the fifteen years of hurt she had endured and scoop her big sister up into her arms, but she couldn't. Not yet.
"I had a cup of orange juice in my hand. I was cleaning up breakfast. When the news anchor said your name I remember dropping the glass and it shattered all around me. I felt like that glass. After it finally registered with me that it was you who had been shot and was fighting for your life, my little sister, I wanted so bad to be by your side and do anything I could. I wanted to take your place." "If you felt like that why didn't you come see me?" Kate asked. "Because . . . it'd been thirteen years since I'd seen you. And . . . I felt like I had no right to be there. Like you would kick me out if I showed my face." Charlie revealed.
"I can't say that I wouldn't have done that, but I thought about you . . . after I woke up. I wanted more than anything to be held by you, like you used to do after a jackass of a sixteen year old boy did something to upset me." Kate recalled the nights when she would curl up on the couch with a bowl of ice cream while she told her sister about the latest stupid thing some guy she was interested in did. Charlie would then indulge her little sister in some of her experiences at that age and Kate would find herself feeling much better afterward. "Ha . . . yeah I remember those nights." Charlie smiled at the memory.
"When it was reported that you were gonna be okay and you'd make a full recovery I felt a little relieved, but I still wish I would've come to see you. It was another on my long list of things I'm not proud of." Kate was surprised at how much she managed to get out of her sister tonight. She was starting to believe her sister really did want to fix their relationship.
"Have you seen Dad yet?" Kate asked, she hadn't received a call from her father, but that didn't mean Charlie hadn't talked to him. "Uh . . . no. I wanted to try to make amends with you first. I thought maybe you could come with me?" Charlie wondered. "You know he called you after he got sober." Kate said regaining an accusatory tone to her voice. "He didn't mention you much when he was drunk off his ass, but once he got his shit together he realized you were gone." "Kate." Castle cautioned trying to reign in his fiancee's anger. "I told him how you left. That you couldn't be bothered to shed a tear over Mom and went back to your life in Boston as if nothing had happened."
Charlie had thought she'd finally gotten somewhere with Kate, but Beckett's ferocity was back and she wanted more explanations. "He wasn't even mad at you for leaving, and that pissed me off so much. I felt betrayed by him because I'd stuck around while you ditched us, and he didn't feel any animosity towards you." Kate's passionate mention of the past came to an end. "He never was one to hold a grudge unlike the women in the family. He's always so forgiving." Kate whispered. "Kate I'm sorry, you shouldn't have had to deal with that by yourself. I should have been there to help you with him. Maybe if I was there we both could've gotten through to him." Charlie apologized for what felt like the hundredth time that night.
"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out if he will forgive you." Kate said. "And what way would that be?" Charlie asked some levity regained in the conversation. "We go see him. Tomorrow, he should be at home. We can meet there at noon." Kate suggested. "I would really like that." Charlie sincerely spoke.
"Well I guess I should get going. I'm sorry for just showing up here without you knowing Kate. Please don't blame Rick he just wants what's best for you." Charlie made her way to the door and the engaged couple said goodbye.
"That actually went a lot better than I thought it would've. I've imagined this night so many times in my head, I can't believe it actually happened." Kate said turning in Castle's embrace to face him. "Being with her tonight made me realize how much I miss her." Kate truthfully spoke. "Well I think you are well on the way to getting reacquainted with her." Castle murmured. "Yeah . . ." Kate trailed off wistfully the tug of sleep taking over. The duo cleaned up the kitchen silently and went to bed. Castle thanking the universe that tonight went rather well, and Beckett wondering what was in store tomorrow.