13. Chapter 13

After Sucker Punch

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Yes, we have no bananas, nor do I own Castle. Rating: K Time: See story title.

Kate Beckett and Richard Castle sat at her desk, eating. The tension of the last few hours had drained from Kate. Kate speared some more sweet and sour pork and looked over at her partner, who was busily demolishing a hot dog. I'm glad I talked to Castle. She thought. At least now he knows that I don't hate him, or want to break his legs. We'll have a better relationship now. Like now. Just two colleagues sharing a little dinner in the bull pen. Just the way we should be.

Castle finished his hotdog. "You should try the Thai, it's great. Especially the seafood curry."

"Thanks, I will." Kate spooned some of the Thai food out of the container. "It is good."

Castle just nodded, his mouth being quite full.

Kate smiled to herself. Why couldn't this be the way things always were with Castle? If they were, they might…Kate cut that off in mid-thought. She was not going to go there. That was the quickest way to a broken heart and Kate couldn't handle another one of those.

"Beckett, I want you to know how sorry…"

"No!" She said firmly. "I don't want to hear it. Just put it out of your mind, Castle."

"How do you know what I was going to say? I could have been apologizing for not getting a package of honey mustard." He said that with a smile.

Kate smiled back. "You weren't. You were going to try to apologize for what happened with Coonan. Don't. Just don't say anything. Okay?"

"Okay." He said that, but Kate could tell he didn't really mean it. For a second she was annoyed, then she decided it was sweet of him to care. "Look, Coonan was a professional killer. He had you as his hostage. Once he was away from the precinct, you'd have been nothing but a liability to him. He'd have killed you without a thought. I knew from the second he grabbed the gun that I was probably going to have to kill him."

"You told Montgomery to back off, though."

Kate looked round to make sure the bullpen was truly empty. "Don't ever tell anyone this, but I had to get Roy to put down his gun. He's been behind a desk too long. I needed to take the shot to make sure you weren't killed. And I would have done it if it were anyone else, Esposito, Ryan, Karpowski," Kate smiled at Castle, "or even that annoying writer who was here about a year or so ago."

"Annoying writer?" Castle's eyebrows rose.

"You may have seen him around. We don't see much of him, but he still drops by every once in a while." Kate's face got serious. "Now, Castle, I admit I lost it there at the end. The cop in me stopped functioning and the woman whose mom died took over. But, can we please not talk about anything that has to do with my mom's death for a while? A long while? I just really can't handle it now."

"Sure. No problem." Castle looked down at the food. "Did you want that other hot dog?"

"No, go ahead and eat it."

As Castle put his condiments on the dog, Kate looked at him. He can really be so sweet and generous. I owe him more than I can ever repay, and it's not the money. Kate smiled to herself. What could I do to repay the man who has everything? A quick vision of herself wrapped in a few ribbons and bows under Castle's Christmas tree shot through her mind. No! I'm sure that would destroy what we do have and I couldn't handle losing that. Not now. He is not my one and done, any more than I'm a one night stand.

Castle looked at Beckett over his hot dog. She's still hurt that she had to kill Coonan, in spite of what she's said. I'd better be damned sure to keep my mouth closed for tonight at least. Still, there are times, like right now, when I just want to put my arms around her and tell her that I'll take care of her, I'll stop the pain, I'll make sure she's always happy. But there's really no way for me to do that. Poor Kate Beckett.

Author's note: To write these, I've been re-watching the Castle DVDs. I'm sure someone before me has noticed this, but ever since Sucker Punch, Kate's relationship with Rick has gotten warmer. She sees him in a different light after this episode. Interesting.