So... read the end Author's Notes. Just... yeah.

This is the final Through The Grapevine chapter. Kind of sad. I will have some more scenarios involving other people in Too Many Ways so don't fret. Vincent McLoughlin was named after my Grandfather because I needed a good Irish name that didn't sound silly. Spell-check doesn't recognise the Irish spelling of McLoughlin and that makes the one quarter of me that's Irish sad. I guess it's a sad day.

Upload Date: May 04, 2012

Chapter Rating: T

Chapter Summary: Castle heads to London for the premiere of Heat-Wave.

#80

He was in England for the London premiere of "Heat Wave". Castle's presence had been required. There was an after-party but Natalie Rhodes and her new fiancé had wanted to do something quiet instead, inviting Castle to a low-key dinner at an out-of-the way restaurant. Natalie's most recent bout of rehab seemed to have calmed her down somewhat; she was nearly two years clean and sober.

It was a surprisingly pleasant evening. Castle was reminded that aside from some of her crazy attempts to be "method", Natalie was actually an intelligent, funny woman who was fun to be around, and her fiancé, Vincent, an Irish Screenwriter, seemed to adore her.

Everything was going quite well until -

"Richard Castle?"

Felling a little smug to be the one recognised, not Natalie, Castle took a small sip of wine and turned to the man who had addressed him, a polite smile on his face until he saw who it was, and promptly choked on his drink.

"Inspector Hunt," he said, recovering, "wow; it's... interesting to see you again."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt - Natalie Rhodes! Why, it's an honour."

"Natalie, Vincent, this is Inspector Colin Hunt, Scotland Yard. He collaborated with me and Detective Beckett on a case back in the states. Colin, this is Natalie's fiancé, Vincent McLoughlin."

"Pleasure," he said courteously, shaking both their hands before turning back to Castle.

"So, are you still collaborating with Detective Beckett?"

"Yes," he said simply.

"Wait, how long has it been now?" Natalie asked, with interest. "Three years?"

"Four," Castle replied.

"Wow, and you're still expecting everyone to believe there's nothing going on between you?"

Castle decided to plead the fifth.

"Well, I know that as of about a year ago, she was single."

"Oh, is that so?" Natalie perked up with interest. "Do tell, Inspector Hunt."

"Well, we went out for drinks and she told me she was unattached."

Natalie looked at Castle, loving this more and more with every second.

"Really? Tell me more, Inspector Hunt."

Castle gritted his teeth, not sure if he wanted to know or not.

"No more to tell. We had a few drinks; she went home and I came back to England. No funny business."

Natalie merely stared at him.

"Ok, I'll admit it; I tried to shag her."

Natalie's mouth fell open with glee. Vincent cleared his throat awkwardly and Castle downed the rest of his glass in one gulp.

"But she shot me down. "

Castle relaxed.

"She was in love with another bloke."

"Really?" said Natalie.

"She said that?" Castle asked in spite of himself, his throat dry.

'"Well, she was pretty sloshed. I think she'd had a rough couple of days."

Castle felt small wave of guilt in his stomach.

"She never said who the bloke was but I could add two and two."

"I think with those two it's not even as difficult as two plus two. More like one and one. No, simpler than that. If x is one, what is the value of x? No, even simpler than tha? How much is one? That's them."

"Well, I'd love to stay longer but I'd better be getting back to my table," he said, indicating a gorgeous blonde sitting nearby. "Cheerio!"

"Have a good night, Colin," said Castle.

"I twas very illuminating," said Natailie.

"Yes, have a pleasant evening," said Vincent.

"So... was Colin right?" Natalie asked.

"No. He's an idiot. Wait. Right about what?"

"Beckett's secret love. Was it you?"

Castle shrugged.
"I don't know."

"How can you not know?"

"Well, you'd have to ask her. "

"Hmm. Maybe I will," she said, taking out her phone.

"Oh, very funny," Castle chuckled. "You don't have her number."

"Don't I? "she smiled coyly, dialling. "Kate gave me her number ages ago so that I could call her if I had any questions about Nikki."

"Well why didn't you call m - not the point. Natalie - "

She raised her eyebrows as she put on the speakerphone.
The phone was answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

Oh, God it was Beckett's voice.

"Kate, hi, it's Natalie. You're on speaker-phone."

"Yeah, hi, how're you going Natalie? How was the premiere?""

"Oh, it was just great. Look, I've got Castle here with me and my fiancé, we're at dinner - "

"Oh, how nice!"

"We were wondering if you could clear something up -"

"No, Beckett, don't - "

Natalie shushed him.

I'm on the phone! she mouthed.

"Don't be rude," said Vincent.

"Oh?" Beckett's voice contained its fair share of amusement.

"Yes, we just ran into an old friend of yours. Inspector Colin Hunt."

"Colin Hunt... Oh, yeah. Wow, really? How's he doin'?"

"Very well, as far as I'd gathered; but he mentioned something interesting. Apparently you mentioned to him that you were in love with another man, and we were just curious to who that was."

There was a long silence.

"I don't think that's any of your business."

"So, you're not going to tell me."

"No. Look, put Castle on - "

"Ok, great talking to you!"

She hung up.

"It was totally you."

Castle resisted the urge to wring her skinny neck and tried Beckett on his phone - to no avail.

"Seriously, Castle, have a great night," she giggled as he left in a huff.

He tried all the way home but couldn't get through to her on his phone for some reason. He decided to call from his hotel phone.

He was in a pretty low mood when he stepped into his room and turned on the light.

He froze.
"Kate?"

Lying on the bed wearing nothing but a sexy black teddy and a Cheshire grin, Beckett sat up.

"Hey, Ricky," she purred.

"How are you - I thought you were in New York, working."

"I lied," she said, standing up and walking towards him. "Natalie helped me out by sneaking me into your room and making sure you got back at a decent hour to give us plenty of time to..." she raised her eyebrows suggestively"... before I have to leave tomorrow.

"Natalie was in on it?"

"Mm-hhmm. Oh, and by the way," she whispered in his ear, "it was you."

"What was me?" he asked, still partially in shock.

"The one that I loved Castle. It was you. Still is."

Castle took a deep breath, processing everything.

"Ok," he said finally.

"Seriously? 'Ok. ' That's what you're going with?"

"Mm-mm. Ok." He then proceeded to grab her, turning her around to push her up against the wall in a passionate embrace, kissing her more fiercely than he ever had, one hand caught in her hair while the other lifted up one of her legs, groaning at the discovery of her lack of underwear.

When he finally released her, she gasped for breath, leaning back against the wall, a dopey smile on her face.

"Ok," she said dreamily.

So... I have an announcement: I finally figured out how to watch episodes that have aired in the US but not here yet online. I've seen Still. The only one I haven't seen is The Squab and the Quail because I'm watching in their intended order and after I watched Still...

Well, I thought I should let you know; so I finished editing this piece and here we are. Ok, so first let me say that the episode was amazing, that moment was amazing, I'm totally completely satisfied with it and what it means for the Caskett relationship.

What does it mean for How Many Ways to Say I Love You? I'll be honest; this was started as a form of therapy. Yes, I wanted to prove to a certain fanfic writer that I knew how to write fluff, but there's a reason I chose to do it this way. I really wanted to hear Beckett say those words to Castle; I wanted to know how she might do that and the sheer amount of possibilities were dizzying.

Now that she's said it... I'm happy. I don't need anything else. That moment is enough for me, and better than anything I can conceive.

I have the last two chapters done; they both just need a lot of heavy editing. I have made my decision. This doesn't mean I'll stop posting scenarios. I have quite a few still outlined and it would be a shame if no one saw them. Some will end up as chapters for Too Many Ways and some will be their own fics. But it won't be as often. The thing that I've loved the most about writing this series is all the amazing people I've "met" because of it. Thank you so much for your support.

The good news is, you can talk about spoilers to your heart's content now. Can I just say, good on you for keeping that secret guys. I had no idea.