It's Saturday night.
Kate is quite submerged in one of Rick's old books. One of those she and her mother loved to discuss over dinner. She can't help it with everything that's been going on lately. With Rick's none-too-subtle invasion of her work environment, and practically her life as well.
The way things sound easy between them is a little disconcerting, and she wishes her mom was here so she could tell her about him. About how in addition to being a good writer he is funny, respectful and frustratingly insistent. In herself, Kate wonders what Johannah would think of Rick Castle, not the writer but the person of him.
So reading about Derrick Storm felt right, because he's what makes her feel close to her mother. And indirectly, close to his writer now.
The wineglass is on the bedside table, next to the bed, almost ready to be replaced because it's half empty. And she's not on duty until Sunday at 10 pm, so she can enjoy a little alcohol without feeling guilty.
Maybe it's because she's not the friendliest person in the world, but Kate is really surprised when her phone starts ringing, because it usually only goes off when a body falls.
It's even weirder when she realize that whoever is calling her isn't on her contact list, especially since she hasn't given her contact information to anyone recently.
"Beckett." She answers, half suspicious, half curious.
"Hey Beckett." She recognizes the voice without having to think. "Castle here. Hope I'm not interrupting any Saturday night plans?"
Indirectly, she rolls her eyes. Kate ignores his question and asks her own.
"May I know how you got my number? I don't remember giving it to you."
He, as usual, doesn't seem the least bit less encouraged by the slight edge to her voice. It's more like the other way around. "Don't be mad. I swear I only got it for promising the purest of intentions." The humor in her voice almost makes her roll her eyes again, but she holds back.
Kate closes the book, the bookmark resting between the pages as she shifts it with her glass of wine and takes the last drink. "Yeah, let me know who I need to shoot when I get to the station Monday morning."
"Monday, so you don't work tomorrow?" Rick's voice sounds centered and hopeful.
"More or less. If a body falls after 10 pm I'll go." She answers.
He waits a moment. Looking torn between shy and very excited. "10 pm, right." He probes, loudly. "Does it mean you'd be free if I invited you to brunch tomorrow?"
Her brows arch, and her mouth drops open in some shock.
"A brunch?" She repeats, half stunned. But then she recovers and lets humor coat her response. "What's with you and ignoring rejection, Castle? I mean, you expect a writer to know the meaning of no, but then he keeps coming back with new tries."
He takes another moment of silence and she thinks she might have gotten to him, but then something slides off his tongue like he doesn't even need to think before he says it.
"As an avid reader, you must recognize how persistent this writer here is. But I'm not calling you to try to convince you to go out with me, Beckett." Rick says. "Actually, this time it wasn't even my idea."
She tries not to deflate herself with the information. "What you mean?"
"My mother and Alexis. They, uh… can they be considered your fans? Trust me, they knew you before I did." He counts. "They kind of said they want to meet my partner at work, who I'm going to spend a lot of hours with to do the research. I mean, it's just an excuse to meet you in person. But I can't blame them for trying. So Alexis suggested the brunch? But uh, you probably have plans, so I'll just–"
"Do they want to meet me?"
"Yes. But please don't feel like you have to–"
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why would they want to meet me?"
"I'm sure anonymity is comfortable for you, Beckett, but you should know that you're quite famous in your field. Your name appears in some really important stories, and as a bonus, you're really pretty."
It's Kate's turn to take her moment in silence. Probing whatever that means.
Maybe she takes a little too long or maybe he's just too anxious.
"Beckett? Are you still there?"
"Yes. I uh, still here." She says.
"Are you coming? It's okay if you don't, I can tell you if you already have plans or something."
"What time would it be?"
"At 11 am."
"Send me your address." The answer comes, a little impulsively, if you ask her. "I will be there."
"Really?"
Kate bites her lip.
"Yes, Castle.You must go now, you are interrupting my Saturday night plans."
"Oh, sure. Right than. Night, Beckett."
"See you."
When he hangs up, she wonders how weird it could be. They will work together, introducing the family is not a requirement as in a romantic relationship. Even so, Kate thinks it's kind of sweet.
She picks up the book she was reading again, and reads some more.
If she had the chance, she thinks she would also introduce Rick to her mother.
Brunch starts at 11 am. Kate is at Rick's door a little before 10:50 am, and part of her is so embarrassed to show up like this, in advance, as if she's anxious and can't wait.
But on top of all that, she's so nervous that she thinks part of her just came earlier so she could have enough time in case she decided this was a bad idea and then go home.
But unexpectedly, without her knocking, the door simply opens.
It's not Castle.
"Detective Beckett!" The figure she's only seen online in photos of events from Castle's books exclaims, looking genuinely delighted. "You are here!"
Kate smiles, the girl's excitement sweet.
"Hello, Alexis."
"I'm so glad you came. Please come in" The red-haired stunner backs into the doorway, giving Kate just enough room to step inside. "Help with your coat?"
"Oh, no. I can do it. But thanks."
Nodding, the girl calls out to her father. "Dad, Detective Beckett is here!" When Kate has placed her coat on the hanger, Alexis turns her attention to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Detective Beckett. You're so much prettier in person."
"My pleasure, Alexis. And I think I can say the same for you."
"Thanks." The answer is accompanied by a bright smile. "Come on. Daddy's already finishing brunch and Grandma will be down any minute."
Castle's house is quite spacious. It has an elegant designer, in varied shades of cream and all the decoration is a myriad of details that can represent a lot of him, and although it is a luxury apartment it is not at all over the top as she hoped it could be.
Before she even makes it to the kitchen, she can see Rick's silhouette moving behind the kitchen counter. He looks intent, wearing a red apron that has an illustration of a spatula and says "Kiss The Cook" and when he turns to look at her, he almost looks surprised to see her there. And maybe the blue pools of his eyes linger a little too long on her.
Enough for Alexis to scold him with a deep-throated noise. Kate almost laughs at how he seems to wake up.
"Hello, Detective." Rick greets. "You look lovely this morning.
Kate's throat tightens a little.
"You uh, you should call me Kate. I'm at your place, that's pretty personal. Besides, detective sounds like I'm working."
"Right. Kate, you look lovely this morning." he repeats, as if she didn't hear him the first time. "Not that you're not into the others, but it's just… it's the first time I've seen you without all your work clothes."
Kate purses her lips, and tries to keep her cheeks from flushing, but isn't sure she succeeds.
"Thanks Castle."
"No problem. Please have a seat." Rick delivers. "Mom should be joining us any day now. God knows we're grateful she didn't decide to cook today or we'd all rather stay hungry."
"I heard that, Richard." The voice comes from upstairs, and Kate assumes it to be Martha, the woman mentioned by Alexis and Rick. Soon the name gains a face. "Oh, our guest is already here, I see." As soon as she gets closer, the slender red-haired figure with some age marks extends her hand. "Martha. Nice to meet you, darling."
Kate squeezes her hand. "The pleasure is entirely mine. I'm Kate."
"Oh, I know you. You're kind of famous in this house, you know." She says, so they separate their hands. "Alexis has a friend who has a crush on you, and well, looks like her dad does too."
Well, if Kate hasn't blushed before, she definitely does now.
Rick didn't bother to deny it.
"Grandma, don't embarrass her." Alexis appears again. "Come on, Kate. Let's eat."
When everyone gathers at the table, any nervousness Kate was feeling seemed to evaporate along with the hunger. She hadn't even realized she was hungry until she started eating. The feeling of family around a table for a meal is a sore point for her, and so is Sunday brunch, but here she is, and she's enjoying herself.
In addition to being able to choose from several food options to go with the coffee, she had something that she noticed too.
The coffee he made for her, not just any coffee, is her favorite. Doubt is lodged in her head instantly, she never told him either, in fact, she remembers saying the espresso was fine. But as quickly as it arrived, the question is clarified when she remembers stopping at a cafe with him on her way to Jersey just a few days ago.
Although, she swore she spoke too softly for him to hear, let alone memorize.
But here's a large skinny latte two pumps sugar-free vanilla in front of her.
"Then she looks at me with those little blue eyes swimming in tears and says, 'Dad, Alexis doesn't want to be taken away from here ever. It's so nice here. Please.' Turns out we were on a roller coaster."
"Yes, and you promised you wouldn't take her out yet." Martha adds, rolling her eyes.
"What can I do? I am powerless against those eyes. She uses them against me to this day."
"You wouldn't respect me if I didn't." Alexis says so now. "I still can't believe I had a third-person speaking phase."
"IIt was cute. I loved it. You started talking like that at four and didn't stop until you were six and a half." He counts, proud to remember. "Anyway, it turns out we were on the tenth loop on the roller coaster, and I was so nauseous, and it was almost time for the park to close, but you refused to come off."
Kate asks, enjoying hearing these father stories from him. "How did you manage to get her out of there?"
"Ah, she was overcome by tiredness. She started to doze off as soon as the cart stopped, so after removing the safety catch I picked her up. She was almost completely asleep but said something like 'you promised Daddy, I don't want to go home.' " Rick tries to emulate the sleeping version of Alexis as a child. "So I promised her it was just so she could take a nap, and when she woke up we could go to the park again."
"And you fulfilled." Alexis says. "We were there for almost two weeks straight. You kept taking me every day until… I don't know. Why did we stop going?"
"I tripped over a toy and sprained my ankle. I needed to stay home, so you were ordered to stay home too."
"Oh yeah. I remember that. Those were tough days. You were a big crybaby." Martha adds her contribution.
Shortly after this, the subject turns to Kate. The first is from Alexis: why did you give up modeling? And despite her embarrassment that Alexis Castle would know about it, Kate covers up her shyness with her poker face and responds with a 'it was just a summer job, it was never something I really wanted'. The next question comes from Martha: How many years ago did you become a detective, dear? 'Uh, almost three years now.' And then there's Rick. She knows what he wants to ask.
"Why did you decide to join the force?"
Kate swallows. "For a while I was pretty sure I was going to be the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court, so I took a few law semesters at Stanford, but then I just… I don't know. It stopped feeling like the right thing. So I came home. ." It's not a lie, but it's far from the whole truth. "I met this guy in a cafe, Javier. He had just come back from the army and said he was going into law enforcement. I decided it might be good? He said I should give it a try. And for some reason, the police academy seemed so right. So, well, here I am today."
"Yes, here you are" Rick agrees. "The youngest detective ever to get her job."
Kate leaves about two hours after she arrived, she insisted that she would not stay longer because she will have lunch with her father. She didn't go unnoticed by Rick as she didn't include her mother figure in the equation. This makes him wonder what happened.
His mind offers a few dozen possible explanations for this, first he thinks that maybe Kate's story could be similar to Alexis, and maybe her mother lives abroad and prioritizes her job over her daughter. Or maybe her mom just needed to take a weekend trip to sort something out. It could be that Kate has two father figures and she only goes to lunch with one because she's mad at the other. Among some other ramblings that fill her head.
Rick is very pleased with his new partner's interaction with his family, as well as his writing ideas — not that Gina would be supportive if she found out he's writing a new saga instead of finishing the Wilder Saga, but making Gina angry never it was something that stopped him before, it won't start now.
He frantically types in some scenarios and shapes this new character, he hasn't chosen her name yet and he doesn't even know her story deeply, but he knows her intellect, he knows that she is tough and closed and bossy, that she is extremely attractive physically and how well she is holding a gun. And some other details.
The last thing he remembers is getting a kiss goodnight from Alexis saying something about having school in the morning, and telling him to take some time off too.
But it's just that Rick's mind can't rest when there's so much to write about.
But then his phone rings and it's not Gina —Thank God, God knows he wouldn't pick up if it was.
"Detective Beckett, let me guess, you miss me already" He picks up the phone, finally giving his hands a break.
"Yes, Castle. Keep telling yourself that." She responds, that same tone of toughness and irony mixed together and he smiles. "I just wanted to say that a body fell, and your house is on the way. I can give you a ride if you want."
"That is great!" he exclaims. He doesn't know if it was the murder or the hitchhiking. Both, probably. "How long do you spend here?"
"Seven minutes. Don't be late, I won't be waiting for anyone."
"See you, Beckett."
Rick is in the lobby of the building with three minutes, so he has a full four minutes left to kill. Which ends with him downloading a new murder crossword game.
He's still on the third word when the Crown Victoria pulls up in front of the building's facade.
"Hey Beckett" Rick says as soon as he gets in the car. "A seven-letter word for murder that isn't killing."
She looks at him like he's weird, but shrugs and answers. "Slaying?"
"Good. Thanks" He turns to the device. "Okay, now for murdered, which has eleven letters and two consonants after the first letter."
"Assassinated?" She tries.
"No. This one has twelve letters." He speaks, after trying. And probe some more. "Slaughtered has eleven, but it doesn't have the double consonant after the first letter."
"Tries annihilated."
"Yes! Do you play murder crosswords too?" He asks, totally curious to get a real answer to a legitimate question as he types the term into his cell phone.
"Unlike some, I work for living, Castle." She gives a pin. "But in my spare time, I read a lot." Kate adds, and he loves knowing that she's a regular reader. "Actually, I'm surprised you didn't get it right the first time. Your books have a huge variety of synonyms for death."
He smiles at her, not the least bit concerned to let it go that she's just freely admitted that she's a fan of his books. He already knew that, of course, but when she drops things like that into ordinary dialogue, as if it were fact and nothing more, he can't help but feel flattered and extremely happy about it.
"What?" She asks, when his gaze verges on an outright stalker.
"You could have said you like my writing, you know." He says.
"What?" She asks, for the second time in just a few seconds.
"That day, when I asked you about why you're still reading Wilder's saga even though you don't like it. You could have said it was because you liked my writing.'
"Are you fishing for compliments, castle?" She sounds unshakable. And there's this expression on her face, it's really beautiful
"No." Rick responds. "No, actually I just wish you could be honest with me."
This causes her to shut up for a moment.
But then:
"What makes you think I'm not being honest with you?"
Not that he has time to answer that anyway, because then she's parking her car next to the crime scene and they have to go.
As they walk there, they don't say anything. Castle thinks that maybe they could pick up that conversation at some point, but he doesn't know if Kate is just going to pretend it didn't happen, because that sounds exactly like her.
"Hey boss, are you alright?" Kevin is the first to approach, he walks with them towards the body.
"Yeah, sure. I'm better than our victim here. You got an ID?"
As he watches the entire procedure, Rick doesn't say much this time. It's not like the crime scene is very exciting either, but he still offers his expertise once or twice. A dumb story involving the CIA as well, but Kate just rolls her eyes.
Castle takes all he can from admiring her doing her job, but he still wants more. Then he wishes he could take her out to dinner again and have a deep conversation or two with her. He hopes she'll let him.