Chapter 3 Shopping Spree
Beckett arrived at the precinct later that morning, refreshed and ready for another day of work. She wanted to work on the serial killer case but Agent Shaw had firmly kicked her off the team. There were no other urgent cases to work on, as everyone was focused on the Nikki Heat killer case. She sat idly at her desk with nothing substantial to do.
"Beckett, what are you doing here?" the Captain asked as he walked by her desk. "I told you to go home."
"I did go home, to Castle's apartment, and now I'm well rested and ready to work," she declared.
"I meant until we close this case," Montgomery said pointedly. "The killer is still at large and gunning for you. You ought to lay low for the time being. Do you need me to put a protective detail on you?" he offered.
"No, sir, that's not necessary. Castle's apartment has pretty tight security."
"Good. Take some time to yourself. Consider this as a mandatory PTO. I don't want to see you around until this case is solved. That's an order," Montgomery commanded firmly.
"Yes, sir," Beckett sighed dejectedly.
Maybe some time off really would do her some good. The endless caffeine-fueled days Kate spent at work often left her burnt out, both physically and mentally. She could take the time to run some errands to adjust to her new life since her old one was in shambles, quite literally. Kate packed up her personal belongings in her tote and headed back to Castle's loft.
"Back so soon?" Rick greeted Kate as he opened the door to find her there.
"Yeah, Captain Montgomery told me to take some time off of work since I'm off the case," she shrugged as they ventured into the living room.
"I guess it is a good idea to take a break from my job," she continued. "I just… feel kind of useless not being able to work. I don't have anything else to do."
Rick closed his laptop that he was working on. An idea popped into his mind.
"Why don't I take you shopping? You know, to buy back stuff that you lost. I know it won't replace what you originally had, but at least you will have some basic necessities. You need clothes anyways."
Kate considered his offer briefly. "Thanks but I'm not really a shopaholic. I'm more of a workaholic."
"Come on, Kate. I'll let you buy anything you want. Absolutely anything," he coaxed. "How often do you get to go on that kind of shopping spree?"
"Really Castle I'm fine," Kate insisted. "I'll probably go shopping later with Lanie to buy clothes and other stuff."
"Please Kate? I feel guilty for what's happened to your apartment. If it weren't for me, you would be safe and sound in your own apartment with all your stuff. I can't replace everything you had, but I can try," Rick appealed earnestly, even busting out the puppy dog eyes—a trick he had learned from Alexis.
Kate paused to think for a moment. "Anything I want?" she said skeptically.
"Anything," he echoed.
"Fine then. Let's go," she said with a smirk.
Several hours and hundreds of dollars later, Rick and Kate strolled past the brightly lit storefronts of Manhattan mall. Kate laughed at the sight of Rick fumbling with her newly purchased goods.
"Wow, you really took this shop-till-you-drop thing to heart." Rick said, struggling to hold all her shopping bags while they walked along the mall's lengthy walkway. "I thought you didn't like shopping that much."
"I don't, because I usually don't need anything. But since my apartment burned down, I needed to replace everything and then some."
"You really needed this imported loofah?"
"Absolutely. You did say I could buy anything I wanted," she taunted.
"I wasn't expecting you to buy all these useless girly items."
"You have no idea what it takes for us women to keep up our looks," she shook her head thanklessly.
"I can understand the makeup and the clothes but really, that many pairs of shoes? 27 dresses? And more coats than I can count. I know I'm exaggerating, but you're almost as bad as my second wife, Gina. She had a very expensive taste in clothing, and she never was content with what she already had."
"This was your idea, remember?"
Rick grunted in response.
"All this shopping is making me hungry," Kate stated. "Let's stop by the food court and grab a bite."
"Now that sounds good."
Twenty minutes later, they were seated in the food court with two large pizza slices amongst the bustling lunch crowd.
"You know, I kind of like this shopping thing," Kate started. "Being able to buy anything I want. Having you as my personal assistant to carry my things around. I can see why people love shopping."
"Well, my arms and my wallet are feeling the pain. You're lucky I have a high credit limit or else I would have maxed out my credit card by the time we hit the fifth store," Rick admonished. "Seriously, you spent $300 at Bath and Body works? How much shampoo could you possibly need?"
"I didn't spend $300 on just shampoo. I bought lotions, some candles, that loofah, a collection of bubble baths, and a nice fluffy robe," Kate explained. "You know how I like warm baths after a long day."
"Along with a glass of wine and a good book, I remember."
"That's right," she said as she finished the last bite of her pizza and stood up.
"More shopping? What else could you possibly need to buy?"
"Oh, come on Castle. There's just one more place I have to stop by. It may take a little while though…" she mused mysteriously.
"Last store, finally!" Rick exclaimed as he threw away the trash and picked up the bags around the table.
"Hey, no whining. You're the one who offered to take me shopping," Kate reminded him.
"I know, I know. I just didn't think you were one of those types," Rick exaggerated cheekily.
"What are those types?" she mimicked, making air quotes around the emphasized word.
"The women that spend ridiculous amounts of money on ridiculous things."
"I'm only splurging because I have to replace literally everything I own," Kate defended.
"Of course. So, where are we headed next?" Rick asked as he followed her across the mall's sleek white tiles.
After they descended the escalator and made their way to the west wing, Kate stopped to survey the area. Once her eyes alighted on the store she was looking for, they headed in that direction until she reached her destination.
"You don't have to tag along with me into the next one," Kate instructed, turning to face him. "You can hang out in the Apple store over there until I'm done," she pointed to the modern-looking technology showroom behind him.
Rick was glad to finally be able to visit a store that was more aligned with his interests. "Sounds good. You'll call me when you're finished?"
"Yeah. One more thing though..." Kate trailed off.
He raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"
"What's your favorite color?"
"Navy blue. Why do you ask?" he inquired, puzzled by the random question.
"Oh no reason," she said innocently. Kate gave Rick a coy smile as she turned on her heel to enter the Victoria's Secret she was standing in front of.
Rick could only stop and stare, his mouth gaping wide, as she sauntered into the store. That woman was full of mysteries. A million porny thoughts ran through his head, but he shook them off and headed towards the Apple store.
Kate's eyes were bombarded by the intensity of the vivid, flamboyant decorations and clothes. Bright yellow here. Lime green there. White spots on fake dog mannequins. Sequins and rhinestones glimmering in the spotlights. Pink everywhere. Of course, this was because she was standing in the PINK section of the store.
She continued further in, only to be greeted by one of those annoying, overly attentive salespeople.
"Hi, my name is Ashley! Do you need help finding anything today?" a peppy blonde asked in a high-pitched voice.
"No thanks, I'm just browsing." Kate replied politely.
"Ok. If there's anything you need help with, don't hesitate to ask." She ended her rehearsed greeting with an equally rehearsed smile.
Kate snagged a pair of grey sweatpants off a pink shelf. They charge $55 for sweatpants? How can anyone afford this stuff? Unless they're rich like Castle, of course. Might as well get them while I'm spending his money, she smirked.
Grabbing whatever else caught her eye, she brought a selection of lingerie into the fitting rooms to try on. Kate found herself trying on a few navy blue garments, wondering what Castle would think of them.
Wait, why would I care what he thinks? The favorite color thing was supposed to be a joke. Although, I do like this color. Maybe I'll get these to torture him, she thought, imagining his awestruck face.
She selected several bras and matching panties to buy, along with pajama pants and a baby doll nightie, among other items.
Meanwhile, Rick was checking out Apple's newest gadgets. Their latest gizmo: the iPad. He picked up the demo iPad and explored its functions.
"Interested in the iPad, sir?" an Apple employee asked.
"Yeah, it's so cool!" Rick exclaimed, entranced by the device's sharp resolution. "The graphics are great!"
"The apps are the best part. You can drive a racecar in HD, read the Wall Street Journal or Marvel Comics, manage your stocks, play tons of games, and do almost anything you can on a computer on the iPad. They're even working on 3D apps for the iPad. The possibilities for this device are endless!"
Rick was already trying out the racing app on the iPad. He was like a kid at the candy store with new tech gadgets.
"Thinking about buying one for yourself?"
He crashed the digital car and then put the iPad back in its dock.
"Actually I already have an iPad nano," he said, pulling out his iPhone as it rang. The cover of Heat Wave appeared on the screen, indicating that Kate was calling.
"Finished shopping Detective?"
"Yup. Now I need you to pay for everything."
"I'll be right there."
Rick said goodbye to the Apple employee and walked across the way into Victoria's Secret. He reached the register just as the cashier rang up the last few items and bagged them for Kate.
"You are one lucky man," the woman behind the counter said appreciatively at Rick.
"Oh, we're not together." Kate quickly explained, a light pink blush painting her cheeks. The cashier raised a skeptical eyebrow but didn't inquire further.
"So what's the damage, Detective?" Rick asked as he pulled out his wallet.
"Your total is $260.24." the cashier stated.
"Ouch. My credit card bill this month is going to be through the roof!"
"No complaining, Castle. I know you're dying to see what I bought." Kate taunted as she rolled her eyes.
"Will you model them for me?" he said playfully.
"In your dreams, Castle" she retorted.
"Castle… as in Rick Castle? The author of Heat Wave?" the cashier perked up as she recognized the name.
"In the flesh." Rick replied proudly with his patented charming smile.
"Then you must be Nikki Heat!" the woman said to Kate, putting two and two together.
Kate was surprised that someone like her would read Castle's novels.
"It's just fiction. We're not…" Kate said awkwardly, shaking her head.
"Sure… I've read page 105. That sex scene? You are definitely a lucky man," the girl said as she swiped Rick's credit card through.
Kate picked up the glossy pink shopping bags as they exited the store to head home after their long day of shopping galore.
"I expect you've shopped to your heart's desire?" Rick asked on their drive home.
"You know, I still could use a few more things…" Kate mused.
Rick scoffed. "You're kidding right?"
"Yes. I've bought way more stuff today than I've actually owned in the past 5 years," Kate declared.
"Thank you, Castle. Really. I know I shouldn't be so superficial over materialistic things, but this did make me feel better."
"I know women like to splurge a little bit every now and then. Or in your case a lot," Rick teased.
Kate laughed as he pulled the car into the underground garage of his building.
'Cause it's you and me, and all of the people
With nothing to do, nothing to lose
A/N: (12/19/11) Okay a lot of people have commented that this chapter was wayy out of character and now that I've gone back and re-read it, I agree. (Also, the total that she spent was too high so I fixed that.) I can't really change this chapter b/c the whole thing is about the shopping spree so... yeah. I changed some numbers to make it more believable. (You definitely can spend $250 at VS) Sorry for writing this chapter out of character :( [Btw, some of the original #s were references to other things. The luffa was from a Mer/Der fic I read and 27 dresses was obviously from Katherine Heigl's movie. That's why I picked some of those outrageous numbers.]