Something Old, Something New
by Castlefan6
A/N: By Request, PRE-Series Hookup, SEQUEL to Diminished Recall. Picks up exactly where that ends. COMPLETELY AU except for the conversation that prompted this and the use of some character's names. For CeCe, Friend, and Co-Writer with Pen2Paper.
I don't own Castle; I use the characters for amusement purposes only
I hope it's close to what you wanted.
A/N: Laurie's occupation was a songwriter, she said she had been lucky a few times. For the sake of this fiction, please assume the songs written by Diane Warren were her work, under her pen name of DW. Thx
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Chapter 7
Castle's Loft
4:00 PM,
Rick walked up to his door and heard the laughter coming from his daughter, mother, and the lady he had rushed home to be with, Laurie. He quietly opened the door, hiding the bouquet behind his back as he walked in and just stood, listening to the music of laughter. Then he heard, "Rick"! as Laurie vaulted the chair and ran to his arms, kissing him like they had been apart for years.
"Hi Sweetie, I missed you. These are for you, I'm so glad you're home" he held her tightly as she wrapped her arms around him holding her flowers in one hand.
Alexis walked by and said under her breath, "I'll take care of your flowers Laurie, they'll be on the table by the piano when I get them into some water." She smiled at the two of them. Once again, a kiss between the two, and quiet words of affection whispered to each other.
"So, Dad, how was your day, Laurie told us about her trip, aren't you excited for her?" Alexis asked
"You bet I am Pum, eh Alexis, I mean not only to meet the one and only but to have her request her song to record, I mean that's quite an honor. He noticed Alexis scrunch her nose, with the Pum sound then relax when he caught himself and called her by her name.
Just then the door buzzed, "It's Antonio's Dad, we figured pasta and pizza tonight, would give you and Laurie more time to catch up. After dinner, I have to go to Paige's for a planning meeting for student government, and Gram has a, well she has something." Alexis laughed,
Laurie's eyes sparkled looking into his deep blue eyes and hearing his daughter make plans to allow them privacy, Rick had been right, Alexis was more than OK with this, she was a co-sponsor of it.
"Thanks, Alexis, did you ask Laurie, I mean she may not want to spend the evening with your old man." He felt her small fist hit him in the arm, "You ever say that again, and I'll show you what six years of Karate lessons earned me. Of course, I want to spend tonight, every night we can together." She said, and blushed,
"You're lucky Dad, I would have hit you harder. She couldn't wait to get back to share her happiness with you. She really had a successful trip, and if the record label cooperates, they will be releasing the single of your song within a month." Alexis said,
"How did you"
"Because Laurie is real, she talks to Grams and me, not AT us. She asks questions about how we feel and really cares. As I said, don't blow this Daddy" Laurie left his arms for a moment to cross the room to hug Alexis and whisper something to her. All Rick heard Alexis say was, same here Laurie, let me know if he gets out of line" and laughed,
Laurie reached out to Rick, held his hand and since they were through eating helped him and Alexis clear the table, Martha had pulled her normal routine and disappeared. "Thanks for Dinner Alexis, it was great," Rick said,
"Thanks for the AMEX Daddy," and laughed as she scurried up the stairs to get ready.
"She's quite a girl," Rick said, Laurie corrected him, "No baby, she's quite the young lady, you should be so very proud of the job you did raising her." As she tiptoed and captured his lips,
Rick poured the wine and turned the stereo on to listen to the first cut of Celine Dion singing Laurie's song. Laurie found her spot, head on his chest, cuddled into him, listening to his heartbeat so steady. He heard her setting up the background vocals about when to come in on a downbeat, and then a few minutes later, he heard the most beautiful song he had ever heard.
It was the same song that was played on the piano but was backed by a full orchestra, and background vocals. Laurie watched his eyes, as the words rolled off of Celine's lips, perfect pitch, just the right amount of emotion, as she delivered the love letter written just for him. She felt the drops of liquid fall from his eyes, as he pulled her closer and tighter to him. When she sang the words I lost my faith; you gave it back to me, You said no star was out of reach Rick was moved, more than he had ever shown before. He kissed her, and just said, "I love you, thank you for loving me." As they continued to hold each other for the duration of the song.
(A/N: This song was written by Diane Warren and recorded by Celine Dion),
Because You Loved Me
For all those times you stood by me
For all the truth that you made me see
For all the joy you brought to my life
For all the wrong that you made right
For every dream you made come true
For all the love I found in you
I'll be forever thankful baby
You're the one who held me up
Never let me fall
You're the one who saw me through
Through it all
You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'cause you believed
I'm everything I am because you loved me
Ooh, baby
You gave me wings and made me fly
You touched my hand I could touch the sky
I lost my faith; you gave it back to me
You said no star was out of reach
You stood by me, and I stood tall
I had your love I had it all
I'm grateful for each day you gave me
Maybe I don't know that much
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by you
You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'cause you believed
I'm everything I am because you loved me, oh
You were always there for me
The tender wind that carried me
The light in the dark shining your love into my life
You've been my inspiration
Through the lies, you were the truth
My world is a better place because of you
You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'cause you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me
(You were my strength when I was weak)
(You were my voice when I couldn't speak)
(You were my eyes when I couldn't see)
You saw the best there was in me
(Lifted me up when I couldn't reach)
(You gave me faith 'cause you believed)
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me
As the song faded to silence, she had moved to his lap, captured his lips, planting gentle kisses, then moved to kiss his damp eyes. He was lost in the music, and her touch, he finally felt what love was supposed to feel like, all the words made sense. That was why she could write such beautiful poems set to music; the words came from deep inside her heart.
The mood was pierced about ten minutes later when Rick's cell phone rang with the ringtone from the 12th precinct, Laurie moved, "You better get that love, it may be important" she said as she stole one last kiss.
Rick knew she was right, but he huffed his displeasure, "Castle" he barked into the phone. Laurie could only hear one side of the conversation, even though she tried not to.
"When?"
"OK, yeah tell Anne good use of technology."
"How long can you hold him? Damn, it, OK, I'll be down in thirty minutes, no one goes home until I release them, and keep the perp in the box until then." He said, his eyes already pleading for forgiveness from Laurie,
"Hey, don't look that way, your friends need help. Go help them, then get back to me, I'm going to soak in a long hot bath, so I'll be ready when you do get home. I'll be right here, I promise" She kissed him and took the wine glasses to the sink to wash.
"I'll be back as soon as I can, I miss you," he said, she kissed him at the door,
"Please stay safe, I'll miss you too, I love you." She said, her eyes sparkling,
He kissed her back, "Laurie, I love you too, and I'll stay safe, I promise."
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12th Precinct
24 Minutes Later
Rick strode off the elevator and toward the interrogation room where Anne was trying the good cop routine on Mitchell, Roz had tried the bad cop to no avail earlier.
"So, you're the god cop, Detective, you have my rap sheet. You know I'm as familiar with your playbook as you two lovely ladies are. I can't complain about how nice you both look, but I'm not saying anything until my attorney is sitting right beside me"
"And who is this, we've already played Good and Bad Cop, is this a shrink or something here to talk to me?" he asked as Rick walked in.
"No, this is Richard Castle, I'll leave him to you, Rick, call if you need us, LT is right outside the window if he tries something cute," Anne said,
"Thanks, Anne, and Great Job finding the connection, remind me to speak to Roy about the good job you did." He said,
"Thanks, Rick, it was as much for me as it was for the case, I didn't fancy spending three days holed up in a room trying to manually search," she smiled, "I do appreciate the compliment and special thanks" as she exited the door.
"Did she say your name was Richard Castle, like in Derrick Storm Castle?" Mitchell asked,
"Yes, among some other works, have you read any of my books?" Rick asked, pushing a cup of hot coffee and a bottle of cold water he had brought across the table to Mitchell,
"Yeah, I loved Storm, why the hell did you kill him, I mean Jesus now I have to read Patterson's crap," he said, and Rick smiled, "Thanks he said as he drank down the water, and took a sip on the coffee"
"Sure thing, it gets thirsty in here. I killed Storm because he got boring to write, you know I knew every move he was going to make even before I began. If I figured it out, it wouldn't be long before smart readers like yourself would figure it out as well. I'd rather kill him off when he was on top than let him go down the drain like that" Rick said,
"That makes sense, most writers would milk every penny out of the books, and write them till the cows came home, so thanks for sending him out on top," Mitchell replied,
"Sure thing, I'm a reader and that would piss me off if another writer did it to a character I loved. I'm looking for a new series, one of the reasons I'm hanging out at the precinct. I'm trying out one idea, but I want it to be as realistic, and authentic as possible, you know get the details right." Rick said as Mitchel sipped on his coffee, relaxing a bit.
"They never get the details right. Not in books or movies. They always write us as clowns and thugs. They never stop to think that maybe we got mortgages, families..." Mitchell looked down,
"I know, I can't stand lazy writers, just a little more time and they could portray their characters so much more accurately. The one idea I'm working on now is about this crew of home invaders, based on the crew we're looking for right now. I got this one scene where a guy just like you runs into these guys by accident. In the middle of a job. I'm writing the draft and am stuck at that scene, "Rick said, feigning disgust with other writers,
"That wouldn't happen to me. I'm not doing residentials. Not at least until you catch these guys. These guys are dark." Mitchell replied without hesitation,
"What, you know them?" Rick asked looking as innocently as possible.
"I wouldn't say know them. The shot caller came into the bar a few months back, looking to put together a crew, and with my reputation, he wanted to bring me on. He told me it was an easy mark. He bragged that he had eyes inside, he had pictures of the jewels, items, names, and addresses. When I told him I was just out of the joint and too hot, I had eyes on me he said he would settle for one of my bump keys." Mitchell said, after looking around and speaking in a low tone directly to Rick.
"Did you give the key to him?" Rick asked,
"Yeah, I gave it to him. I didn't even charge him I just wanted him to get the hell away from me. There was no way I was about to join his crew." Mitchell said,
"You gave him the key for free? Why wouldn't you join this crew, especially if he had the sweetheart arrangement of having all of the marks identified and jewels that he could lift?" Rick asked
"Did you miss the part where I describe him as a whack job, this guy enjoyed initiating pain, then murder. That's not my style, never had a taste for killing, especially older couples and single women." Mitchell said,
Rick continued the conversation long enough for a sketch artist listening in could get a rough sketch of the guy, there was a knock on the door, and Rick opened it, and took the drawing.
"Is this close to the shot caller,? Rick asked,
"Yeah, that's close the clown has a face that only his mother can love," Mitchell added,
"So now what you gonna lock me up?" Mitchell asked when Rick got off a phone call.
"No, if you promise to call me if this guy contacts you again, you're free to go," Rick said,
"WHAT? You're not going to throw me in lockup and claim the paperwork got lost for several hours? He asked,
"Not my style Mr. Mitchell, you're square with me, I'll be square with you," he said, as Mitchell,
"Sure, sure, I'll be sure to call, and I'll look forward to your new book, Thanks, Mr. Castle."
Rick gave him a salute as he left the office a free man. Not a high price to grant him for supplying the lead that could solve three murders. It's one thing when a citizen is afraid of a criminal, it's another when a career crook like Mitchell feared him. It was time to get him off the street.
Rick called the team together, to tell them the developments, and share the picture. Now they had to run down the shot caller, Identified as Karl Nadir. Rick wanted all of his know associates both in and out of prison, and how this guy could have a connection to the Metropolitan American Dance Theater. It was already late, so they broke for the evening, feeling they had made great headway since Rick had come on board to help.
"I'll be in around ten tomorrow, if you come up with something before that, call me," he said,
"Sure, thing Rick, I'll only call you if it's time-sensitive, like tonight. We couldn't hold Mitchell much longer without charging him with something.
"That was a good call, and damn good use of technology Anne, Maybe we could use the program to find out the connection between Nadir and the MADT." He said,
"I'll see what I can do tomorrow, Good night Rick," Anne said,
"Till tomorrow, Detectives," he said, keeping with his mantra, never saying Goodbye or Goodnight. Till tomorrow was so much more hopeful, and speaking of hopefulness he had to hurry home to see if Laurie was still awake. He had been gone much longer than he had wanted to be."
He slipped in the door to the quiet, dark home thirty minutes later, as he made his way quietly to his bedroom, he heard,
"Aren't you forgetting something?" from the darkness, then he saw the outline sitting in the chair.
"Never, sweetie, I thought you would have gone to bed already, I'm sorry I was gone so long" he crossed the room meeting her halfway as she rushed to him, after a long kiss, he picked her up bridal style and took her to their bedroom, and once again, everything was right with the world. She made him feel that way with just a kiss, and many more followed several times that night. It was a wonderful world, even with all of the ugliness that some created, life could be beautiful.
TBC
