65. Chapter 65

After Vampire Weekend

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I suppose I could tell you what I do own. No? Well, it's not Castle. Rating: K Time: Well after Vampire Weekend.

Halloween 2014

Castle walked up behind his lovely wife and kissed her on the back of the neck. "Great Halloween party."

Kate nodded. "And not a bad theme, for once."

"For once?" Castle said, with feigned shock. "For once? I'll have you know my parties are famous world- wide for the excellence of their themes."

"I'll alert the media." Kate teased.

"Come as a movie character you'd like to be." Castle said happily. "And look at how many people went out of their way to make it work, yourself included."

Kate turned around and tipped her wide brimmed hat to him. "Shall we go to Rick's Café Americain, shweetheart?" Kate did a terrible Humphrey Bogart, but she was a much better Ilsa.

"As long as I get to sleep with the gorgeous and sexy Ilsa, I'm happy."

"Here's looking at you, kid." She said as she kissed him softly.

"Everyone seemed to be happy. Lanie, who wanted to be a dancer came as Natalie Portman's character from The Black Swan.

"Espo was no surprise. Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore from Apocalypse Now? He even brought his own sound effects."

Kate nodded. "I know. I may never get The Ride of the Valkyries out of my head."

"Kevin and Jenny surprised me, though." Rick said. "Bonnie and Clyde. A pair of Depression era bank robbers? Why would a cop, and a good cop, pick that?"

"He said that every once in a while he wonders what it would be like to be on the other side. He thought about coming as Duke Santee from the old movie, The Petrified Forest, but the movie was made in 1936 and he was afraid no one would have ever heard of it."

"The Petrified Forest?" Rick said. "That was a great film. It was a film noir before there were film noirs. Films noir? What's the correct plural?"

"Two movies?" Kate deadpanned. "Perlmutter was the biggest surprise. The Man with No Name? From Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns. He doesn't seem the type."

"Perlmutter riding into town and shooting everyone? Really?"

Kate shrugged. "Actually, it would explain a lot."

"More than I'd want to know."

"Martha was good. Kate Hepburn's character in On Golden Pond. I think she really nailed it."

Castle shivered dramatically. "Please don't tell her that. She'll be insufferable."

"Oh, she's sweet."

"Insufferably sweet, then."

"And where did Alexis get her idea from. T.E. Lawrence from Lawrence of Arabia?"

"I asked her. When someone is her age, you want to change the world all in one fell swoop. No fooling around, no writing long, boring constitutions, no setting up a civil society. Just sweep in with your army of Bedouins and start giving orders. But being realistic Alexis, she knew it would never work, just like it didn't for Lawrence. Hence, Alexis as T.E. Lawrence, the flawed hero."

"I just thought of something." Kate said, turning on Rick with a gleam in her eye.

"Yes! I will sleep with you." He frowned, "No, I take that back! I won't let you sleep. Neither one of us will sleep for days."

"Down writer boy." Kate said with a grin. "Do you remember the first Halloween party of yours I ever came to?"

"Do I ever? I was afraid you wouldn't show up."

Kate giggled. "Really? Rick Castle was afraid I wouldn't show up. You must have been so disappointed with my costume, though. I said I was going for sexy, and I'm sure you were thinking I'd be wearing that slutty nurse costume you were so into."

"Or maybe your Russian party girl outfit from that poker game."

"Maybe I would have worn my see-through, black, shorty negligee? You love that one on me, don't you?"

Castle waggled his eyebrows. "Actually, I love it off of you."

Kate leaned against him, resting her head on his chest. "Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky tonight, Castle. If you play your cards right."

Castle gently stroked her hair. "No matter what happens, I've been lucky since the day I met you."

"You know what? I think you're going to have a very memorable Halloween, Mr. Rick."

"This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Castle replied.

"But, you've gotten me off topic, as usual. Do you remember what I asked you before that Halloween party?"

"Um, not really."

"I asked you what it was that started your fascination with the macabre. And you lied to me. You made up some silly story about finding a body on a beach when you were five. And then you laughed at me for believing you. Now I want the truth, or are you going to lie to me again? Is the real story too embarrassing? Is that it? Did little Ricky Castle wet his pants when he was frightened? Tell me, or you sleep in the guest bedroom."

"Kate! You would take advantage of my love for you by denying me sex with you? When that would hurt you as much as it would hurt me?"

"Now, Castle. The whole story. Or else." She sounded very serious, but she was smiling.

"Okay, okay." Castle got a glass of wine for the two of them and sat down with Kate on the couch. "The problem with the story of how I became interested in the macabre, in death and murders, and everything else, is that there's no story there."

"No story?" Kate said. "Do you really expect me to believe that? There's always a story. You taught me that."

Castle nodded. "It's the truth. There is no one defining moment that led to my fascination with murder. No bolt of lightning that changed me forever. It was a long process. I can't really tell you when mild interest became a fascination."

"Well, try, Castle. You can do that, can't you?"

"When I was very young, in grade school, I started hanging out at the New York Public Library. I read everything: Science fiction, westerns, spy novels, mysteries, and I even brought my comic books in to read. The stories I read were pretty much the same. The handsome hero defeats the evil villain, saves the pretty girl and rides off into the sunset."

"That sounds like what a lot of kids read." Kate said.

"I kept reading, but as I grew older, I read more adult books. And, I started reading the newspapers for more than the comics and the sports pages. That's when I discovered that the world wasn't like Casino Royale, or Batman. Sometimes the good guys ended up with a bullet in the back of the head, the pretty girl got raped, and the evil villain lived to a ripe old age, living in luxury off his ill-gotten gains."

"You were growing up."

"Really?" Castle said happily. "You think I'm grown up?"

"It's a relative concept with you." Kate conceded.

"Anyway, sometime between when I was fifteen or sixteen and the time I was in college, I started wondering, how this could happen? How could evil triumph in this world? How could people do all the evil things they did? Didn't they know it was wrong? Didn't they care?" Castle leaned over and kissed Kate. "And that's the story. Over a period of years I became fascinated with the evil that men do, and I've been fascinated ever since."

"But now you help bring those evildoers to justice."

"And I get to do it with the hottest, sexiest, smartest, coolest detective in the world, my lovely wife, Mrs. Castle."

Kate stood and took Rick's hand. "You know, Mr. Castle, I think you're going to do all right tonight." And she led him away to the bedroom.