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Rick Castle has never been more excited about anything in his entire life. Okay, that's a lie – he had been pretty damn excited when he bought that plot on the moon – but he hasn't been this excited about anything recently. Everyone he's reached out to for help with Beckett's fundraiser had said yes without hesitation. So naturally, he's milking every single one of them for all they're worth, from sponsorship deals to monetary donations and they haven't disappointed.
He's also made a list of things he wants to have at the fundraiser, mostly at Beckett's request. Her one condition for giving him almost free reign with the planning was that he run everything by her first because in her exact words, he will 'go overboard with the planning and someone sane needs to keep a handle on things.'
True to her word and much to his disappointment, the moment he emailed her his first draft, she'd responded with a definite 'hell no' to some of his brilliant ideas. Ideas like the fireworks.
And the horse carriages.
And the confetti of gold flakes.
Castle's not too fussed about that however; what she doesn't know is that the joke is on her. He only put them on the list because they served as a distraction from the things he actually wants to have at the event. An ice sculpture will definitely be a nice, yet understated addition and compared to the next few items on the list that begin with the words 'gold plated', he's sure Beckett will gloss over it in an attempt to cull the more exorbitant suggestions.
So a week after his impromptu late night visit to her apartment, he strides into the precinct humming happily, with a revised list clutched reverently in one hand and a tray of coffees balanced expertly in the other. He exchanges quick barbs with the other detectives he meets along the way and makes a beeline for Beckett's desk the moment he enters the bullpen. The quicker he gets her coffee to her, he thinks, the more amenable she will be to his new list.
Much to his dismay, neither Beckett nor the boys are anywhere to be seen when he gets there. It's not anything too out of the ordinary so Castle leaves Ryan and Esposito's coffees on their respective desks before settling into his own seat next to Beckett's. He unfolds his list and flattens the creases while he waits for Beckett to emerge.
He's timed his visit so he'd arrive just before midday in an attempt to persuade Beckett to come out to lunch with him. From the looks of the empty bowl of skittles on her desk, he has a feeling it won't take much to convince her to make the trip to Remy's.
Castle's about to pull his cellphone out to start playing a game while he waits when he notices that her computer monitor isn't locked. He smiles in delight – Beckett is a stickler about computer security and her leaving it unlocked suggests that she'll be back from wherever she is soon. He glances around, makes sure that no one is paying him any particular attention and eventually decides that as the dutiful partner that he is, he'll have to make sure she's left nothing open on her browser that should be seen by wandering eyes.
He shifts into her seat, careful to not jostle the lever that changes the height – oh, he's learned his lesson about that – and brings up her web browser. He clicks on an open tab and – oh, she's–
She's looking at dresses. Gorgeous dresses.
The page is open to some boutique's website and there are rows of stunning dresses tiled across the browser window. It looks like she's filtered the results to the darker colors, deep maroons, midnight blue, the classic blacks. Some of them are downright scandalous, low cut and slinky. He swallows as he studies the selections and it dawns upon him that he might not be able to survive the night if she picked any single one of the dresses currently on the screen.
He's about to scroll through the rest of the site when he hears footsteps behind him. Panicking, he hits the Alt and F4 keys, closing down her browser – she's probably going to kill him for that – and swivels around in her chair, rearranging his features into the most innocent look he can muster.
But his grin falters, replaces it instead with a faint scowl as he realizes the footsteps don't actually belong to his partner, but instead belongs to his partner's … partner.
"Josh. Hi. Nice to see you again," he tries to dial down the disdain but it leaks into his voice anyway.
"Uh, Rick, hi. Is Kate here?" Josh fixes Castle with a guarded stare, his posture stiff and unwavering. The doctor looks a little agitated, possibly a little annoyed that Beckett is nowhere to be seen.
Josh sweeps his gaze across the room and Castle takes the opportunity to stand up too, not at all comfortable with the fact that Josh towers over him from his seated position. He squares his shoulders and his eyes drop to the rather large box that Josh pushes onto Beckett's desk. His curiosity is instantly piqued but seeing the other man reminds of more important things he's been meaning to take care of for a while.
He exhales, slow and steady. He's a grown man, he can be civil to him for two minutes. For her. For Beckett.
Castle grins and clears his throat. "No, she's not here right now, but while you're here, there's a couple of things I wanted to run by you for the fundraiser."
Castle pulls out his notebook and his pen, missing the confused look on Josh's face as he repeats the word. "Fundraiser?"
"Yeah, and since you're a doctor and all, you must have contacts right? So maybe if you could reach out to some of them, see if they'd like to come along, maybe participate in the silent auction-"
"Silent auction?"
"-and if you had any family members you wanted to invite, you can let me know, I mean since this is for Beckett's mom and all, you can-"
"Beckett's mother? Castle, wait, wait hang on a second."
"-I'm not sure if you have any dietary requirements, so maybe we should get that all sorted out first?"
"Rick!"
Castle finally stops talking at the exclamation, looks up from his list and notices that complete bewilderment on Josh's face, his eyebrows furrowed, arms crossed in front of him. "Um … yes, Josh?"
"You're holding a fundraiser for Kate's mother?"
Castle frowns, but before he can get another word out, he spots Beckett walking into the bullpen, followed closely by Ryan and Esposito, laughing together, doughnuts in hand. As if she can sense him in the room, she looks away from her boys the moment Castle turns to her and their eyes meet – her lips curling upwards in delight as she spots him.
And then just as easily as it appeared, the mirth disappears and the laughter dies from her lips as she focuses on the other man in the room.
"Josh?"
"Kate!"
She approaches them slowly, eyes narrowed in suspicion as she walks past Josh to stand next to Castle on the other side of her desk. He knows it's juvenile, but Castle can't help but feel a little smug about it. It's like she's chosen him over Josh and–
"He's holding a fundraiser for your mother?"
Okay, where does Josh get off speaking as if he's not standing right there with them? There's no malice in his voice, but it's accusatory nonetheless and he can feel Beckett tense up next to him. She inches imperceptibly closer to him, their elbows brushing when he folds his list and slips it into his pocket.
"Yes Josh, yes I am. We literally just talked about this," Castle mutters, glaring at the other man.
"But your mother's dead."
What the – he's going to wring the damn doctor's neck. He's going to use the pen he bought for her last week that's sitting pretty on her desk – he's going to use it to stab the man's eyes out, he's going to punch him so hard for being a complete asshole. How can he be so tactless, so insensitive – he's still seeing red when he hears her voice breaking through the angry haze.
"Castle, hey, stop it. It's fine."
The confident cadence of Beckett's voice soothes him as she takes his hand, fingers stroking his clenched fists. Her touch is as smooth as gossamer silk against his skin and it works. The red clears from his vision and he calms down from the rage. He looks down at their hands, at how her fingers are working slowly to unfurl his own from the tight fist he's made and a weird tingling feeling spreads through him.
"What did I say, what's going on here?" Josh asks, eyes darting back and forth between the two partners, suspicion coloring his words.
Beckett sighs, letting go of Castle's hand. "Castle can you wait here for a few minutes? We'll head out to lunch in a bit. I need to speak to Josh in private."
He nods, not trusting himself to speak just yet. He watches as Beckett leads Josh away into an interview room and he breathes a sigh of relief when the door shuts behind them. God. Beckett could do so much better than that bullish oaf. Sure, he seems nice enough, seems to keep Beckett content but she deserves so much more than just being 'content'.
She should be wined and dined, showered with gifts, romanced and cherished, not be given random boxes in the middle of the day at the workplace–
Oh, the box!
He glances at the interview room and notes that the door is still firmly shut. Ryan and Esposito seem to have disappeared, probably to the other side of the room trying to eavesdrop on Beckett's conversation, those nosy bastards.
He makes a mental note to ask them what they've managed to learn later.
Well then, back to the box.
He runs his fingers along the sides, eventually sliding them under the carefully tucked in flaps. He lifts them and after casting another look back at the closed doors, peers inside.
There's barely anything in it, to his disappointment. Her motorcycle helmet sits nestled among a few scarves and a riding jacket that's been hastily folded up. A pair of her crazy high heels are tucked to the side and he pulls them out, knowing how much she'll hate it if they get scuffed from being in the box with the helmet.
It doesn't hit him straight away, but rather it's when he's repacking the box sans the shoes, that he's actually looking at a break up box. Josh was bringing her a box of Beckett's things to her workplace, presumably because he's no longer welcome at her apartment. The revelation knocks him off his feet, literally, and he stumbles backwards into his seat.
They're not together. Josh isn't Beckett's boyfriend anymore. He stares unseeingly into the distance, his heart hammering in his chest as the pieces fall into place. Josh had had no idea about the fundraiser, which meant they'd been broken up for a while. Longer than a week, at the very least.
He doesn't have time to ponder on that fact much longer however, because the door to the interview room opens and Beckett steps out. She turns to him immediately, eyes once again seeking his like a homing pigeon, as if it's the most natural thing in the world. She nods at him, then tilts her head at Josh who walks out behind her.
Josh doesn't spare either one a single glance as he retreats into the elevator, a blank look on his face. Castle's dying to know what had transpired in the room, his imagination on full throttle as he conjures up fake conversations in his mind.
"Castle!"
He jolts out of thoughts, startling as Beckett snaps at him from across the room, arms folded across her chest.
"Lunch time! You comin'?"
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