Missing Scene: 6x03
A/N: Thank you very much for the reviews thus far! I do intend to write a little something for each episode that airs this season, and I might even backtrack to the previous seasons. Caskett = LOVE
"Kate, you're one of the best agents I've ever worked with, but I am here to tell you you're fired." Agent McCord said.
Castle looked over to Kate, seeing the devastation in her eyes. It was written all over her. One moment, he had been so proud of her for honoring the victim, and the next, he had Kate's broken pieces on his hands.
"So, I'm going to need your badge and gun." There was something apologetic on McCord's face, but Castle didn't care. He was more focused on Kate, who nodded her head in an automatic response, and with the mobility of a robot, went to the dining room where her coat was draped over the back of one of the chairs. She reached into her pockets and pulled out both items.
Kate suddenly felt numb. She wandered back towards the door and dropped the items into McCord's outstretched hand. "It's been a pleasure, Kate," the agent said, offering up a sympathetic smile. All Kate could do was nod her head, and offer a smile back.
Castle cleared his throat, hand still on the door knob of the open front door. Get out went unsaid, but it was implied. He couldn't help but be territorial when it came to his fiancé. She was extraordinary, and right now, she was hurting. He could see it.
McCord turned to him. She wasn't one to miss her cue, and then she was gone.
Kate looked down at the key in her hand. Their DC apartment. What a waste. She couldn't even look at Castle, and she moved to sit down on the couch, fiddling with the key. She leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees, mesmerized at how the light caught the key at certain angles.
Castle closed the door and moved towards her. He knew her. She was wounded, but she had to have known that this was a possibility. He sat down on the coffee table in front of her. Truth be told, he was actually a little relieved. Somehow, this seemed to solve their problems.
"I just…"
"I know," he whispered, his arms slipping around her.
"I'm sorry, Castle. This is such a waste." Kate held up the DC apartment key. "You were about to change your whole life for me. You were about to sacrifice a lot for me." And he never asked her for anything in return except for her love, which he already had. She knew she took a lot from him. "Maybe this is for the best."
"What do you mean?" he asked, pulling back slightly.
"You've always been there for me, Castle." Her hand deftly carded through his hair. "Even when I didn't want you to be." Even though he was okay now, she could still picture him on the grass, as pale as a corpse as his own life drained from his body. "Maybe this is what I deserve."
"Kate, you didn't deserve to get fired for doing the right thing," he assured.
"Maybe not, but I suppose it is karma."
"Why, Beckett, are you believing in the possibility of magic?"
"Shut up, Castle," she laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Look, Kate. If I wasn't willing to give you everything, I wouldn't have proposed. I would have done – I would do – anything you ask. If it meant going to DC with you, or staying in New York, I don't care. Home isn't always a place. It can be a person."
Kate smiled. "You backed me up without knowing my play," she whispered familiar words in his ear. Yes, McCord had been her partner for a short while, but she was no substitute for Castle.
"Always."
They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, before he took the key from her hand and set it down on the table with a soft clink. "What are you going to do about that?" Kate asked, eyeing it.
"I don't know. Sell it, sublet," he shrugged. He didn't need to decide right at that very moment. "But I know what I want to do about something else," he said, standing up and pulling her with him.
"Oh yeah?" she grinned, following him towards the bedroom.
He pulled her close, his lips drawn to hers like magnets. "My favorite position is in person, too."
