Visitations

Chapter 6

One

"Isn't that one addressed to both of us?" Kate asked as Castle sorted through the mail.

"Yeah," Castle replied grumpily. "It's from Alex Conrad."

"What does he say?" Kate asked.

Castle grudgingly opened the envelope. "He says that he's sorry he didn't get in touch sooner, but Gina sent him out on tour. He's glad I made it back from whatever happened to me; he hopes we can complete our ceremony soon and wishes us much happiness."

"Well that's sweet, Castle. What's the problem?"

"I just think he jumped into the gap too soon, like he tried to jump in with you," Castle fretted.

"Castle, I think he was just doing what Black Pawn made him do. Remember, you had to do the same thing when I was in D.C. and we had to cancel all those weekends together," Kate recalled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Don't worry about it. You're still the star, for Black Pawn and for me."

Castle reached up to squeeze her hand. "Yeah, I know. It's just, we're trying to get back to normal and it was sort of a flashback. It bothered me."

Castle continued with his pile of correspondence while Kate went in search of coffee in the kitchen. "What was all that about?" Johanna asked, materializing next to her.

Kate almost dropped the pot. "Don't do that," she hissed.

"Sorry," Johanna apologized. "Didn't mean to startle you, but who's Alex Conrad and how did he try to jump in with you?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "It wasn't what Castle made it sound like. Alex Conrad was Castle's protegé. Castle helped him get his first novel published and then invited him to the precinct to observe."

"Considering how miffed Castle was, we should go look at that." Johanna proposed.

Kate and Johanna appeared at the precinct as Alex Conrad was studying the murder board. "Maybe you're looking at it wrong," Alex suggested. "Maybe the steroids have nothing to do with the murder. Maybe they're your red herring."

"Oh, Castle does not look happy," Johanna observed, as Castle introduced Alex to Earlier Kate. "Piercing intelligence, self-assured beauty," Johanna mimicked. "What a suck up! And you fell for that?"

Kate shuffled uncomfortably. "Not exactly. Anyway, Alex was really talking about Nikki Heat, which is sort of Castle's view of me."

"Sure," Johanna smirked. "I can see why Castle would be pissed."

"It wasn't just that," Kate rushed to add. "Castle was the one who found the steroids in the first place. They were in the wall of the victims room. Alex was stealing his thunder with the case."

"I think you kind of liked that," Johanna asserted. "You got a kick out of seeing Castle taken down a peg."

"Well, Castle did invite Alex without asking me. He deserved a little bit of a slap down," Kate argued.

"So you took Alex's suggestion and agreed to go out with him that night to punish Castle?" Johanna asked.

"Maybe," Kate agreed guiltily, "but I also thought he might be right."

"Was he?" Johanna asked.

"No," Kate admitted, "Castle was. "It was about the steroids. Still..."

Johanna laughed. "Come on Kate, you were trying to make Castle jealous. By the way, were you still with that doctor?"

"Mmm," Kate confirmed, "but I don't even remember where he was. I wasn't even thinking about him."

"Obviously," Johanna concluded. "I want to see how your little gambit played out."

The scene shifted to Earlier Kate sitting at her desk upon which sat a huge basket of mini-muffins, which Castle started to attack until informed that Alex had sent them. Castle dropped a small goody like a stone, picked up the note from the basket and read, "'Thanks for last night.' I guess you two got together last night."

"Yeah," Earlier Kate told him. "we talked about procedure."

"Oh, so nothing special," Castle commented, relieved.

Earlier Kate leaned back in her chair, thrusting her breasts against the restraint of her white blouse. "Well I don't know. He said he was going to use it for his next book. He said next time we'd talk about cases," she teased.

Castle rose to the bait."Next time?"

The conversation was interrupted by Ryan with information about the case.

Johanna snorted. "Well that was pretty junior high school, sticking your boobs out at him while talking about another guy, but I guess if you were trying to make Castle jealous, you certainly succeeded. Now the question is, why pull such an infantile prank. You were upset with Castle for not getting your permission to invite Alex to the precinct, but that had nothing to do with the sexual teasing, especially since you supposedly had a boyfriend. What did you want Kate?"

Kate felt confused. "I guess when you look at it that way, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Maybe I thought that Castle was taking me, our relationship, a little for granted, and I wanted to shake him up a bit. Anyway, he fought back."

"Oh?" Johanna inquired, "I want to see."

They were in the hallway of the precinct the next night. "Kate are you ready?" Alex asked Earlier Kate.

"Yeah, um just let me get my purse," Earlier Kate replied walking away and leaving Alex with Castle.

"You guys going out again tonight?" Castle inquired casually.

"What can I say? She's a wealth of information," Alex replied. "You are lucky to have her."

"Yeah, yeah," Castle agreed, dangling a hook. "Too bad about tonight, though."

"Too bad how?" Alex asked as Castle chuckled inwardly.

"Well it's poker night," Castle informed him gleefully. "Lahane and Connelly are in town. I thought you might want to join us, but if you have plans..."

"No way!" Alex exclaimed. "You're inviting me to your mystery writer's poker night?"

"Come on," Castle encouraged. "You're a mystery writer now, right?"

"Yeah, but I mean those guys are legendary," Alex gushed. "Those guys..."

"Yeah, they are," Castle agreed. "Ah well, if you're unavailable..."

Castle started walking away, counting under his breath. "One, two three..."

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait," Alex called.

Castle smiled to himself. "Bingo."

"Hang on a second," Alex urged.

"Oh they're gonna love you," Castle gloated.

"So Alex stood you up for a poker game?" Johanna asked. "Not very gentlemanly. Let's see how it all worked out."

Earlier Kate and Castle were at the murder board and Alex was talking to Ryan and Esposito.

"I heard you guys were pretty hard on Conrad last night," Earlier Kate told Castle.

Castle tried unsuccessfully to laugh it off. "Hard on him? No, no, that was just a little friendly hazing."

Earlier Kate looked at Castle skeptically. "To hear him describe it, it sounds like someone was trying to teach him a lesson."

"What?" Castle asked, his voice jumping an octave. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Because you didn't want him to spend time with me," Earlier Kate asserted.

Castle tried to protest. "That is completely..."

"True?" Earlier Kate interrupted.

"Yes fine. It's true. I'm jealous," Castle admitted. "There I said it. I want you all to myself. And to have you spending time with another writer, it upsets me. And if that makes me petty, so be it. Guilty as charged."

Earlier Kate smiled. "Actually I kind of think it's sweet."

"You do?" Castle questioned.

"I do," Earlier Kate repeated. "And that's why you don't have to worry about me hanging around with Conrad anymore. From now on, I'm a one writer girl."

"So what did that mean?" Johanna asked. "Did you want to be exclusive to Castle as a writer, or as a man?"

"I told myself I meant as a writer," Kate responded.

"But?" Johanna prompted.

"I wanted Castle, just Castle. I couldn't have cared less about Alex Conrad."

"And what about Josh?" Johanna prodded further.

"Castle knocked him right out of my mind," Kate realized.

"You know," Johanna suggested, "you might tell Castle that, about Alex and Josh."

Kate considered and nodded slowly. "Yeah, when we get back, I will."