143. Chapter 143

After Scared to Death, Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Marlowe would come back from the dead if he had to if I said I owned Castle. Rating: K+ Time: See above

Castle held Kate in his arms, lightly stroking the skin of her back. "You are so incredibly beautiful." He murmured.

Kate giggled. "Thank you, Castle. I think you're kind of hot, too. But really, you've been in bed with hundreds of women who are better looking than I am."

Castle shook his head. "Never. Better than Miss Hot Rookie of 1999? Not possible. You're perfect. Absolutely perfect."

"Now I know you're trying to flatter me. I'm not perfect, Castle. Far from it." She paused for a second." Do you want something?"

"Just you. That's all I want."

"You've got me. Number one item on your bucket list. "Be with Kate." You can cross that off." She stroked his chest. "I wish we'd gotten together back then. Everything would have been so much easier."

"Um, I was kind of a handful back then."

"You're still kind of a handful."

"Would you like another handful of Castle?" He said, flirting with her.

"In a bit. There is one thing I'd like to know, Mr. Handful."

"Anything. I'm all yours."

"Do you really believe in the spirit world? In ghosts, extra-terrestrials, magic, sorcery, the whole Twilight Zone thing?"

"Of course. How could I not believe in it?"

"How could you believe it is a better question?"

"The answer, as always, Ms. Sceptic, is in the story."

"The story." She said with a smile. "Of course. How could I have missed that?" She pulled herself against him and rested her head on his chest. "What's the story, Castle?"

"Once upon a time…"

"Wait! You're starting the story with "Once upon a time…" Isn't that awfully derivative?"

Castle tried to look offended, but failed. "I prefer to call it a classic. Now where was I?"

"Once upon a time?" Kate reminded him.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful, smart, caring, courageous, dedicated princess."

"What was her name?"

Castle shook his head. "Really? You need a name for her? Okay, she was Princess Hottie."

Kate giggled.

"As I was saying, the gorgeous princess had been hurt very badly once. So she built a huge, powerful fortress to live in. It had walls and moats filled with horrible creatures, more walls and fierce, dedicated guards who protected her."

"What were the guard's names?"

"Senor Tweedledee and O'Tweedledumber were the guards. Anyway, one day a ruggedly handsome scribe came by and saw the princess in her fortress and he fell in love at once with her. Everyone told him that she would never allow him into her fortress, but our hero was deeply in love with her."

"Wait." Kate interrupted. "He fell in love with her? He didn't fall in lust with her first, wanting just to sleep with her?"

"What kind of fairy tale would that be? The Brothers Mitchell? He fell in love with her. So he had to try to find some way to get past those fortress walls and creatures and the guards."

"He must have had a very hard time." Kate said seriously.

"That he did, but it was worth it in the end."

Kate kissed him. "It was so worth it."

Castle smiled at his lover and continued. "So our ruggedly handsome scribe went to a brilliant young woman. She told him he needed a handful of magic beans which would grow into a huge beanstalk that would soar over the walls of the fortress, allowing him to climb to the princess and rescue her. Luckily for the ruggedly handsome scribe, she just happened to have some beans on her. And so, for the low, low price of a Vespa motor scooter and two light sabers, she sold our hero the magic beans."

"The magic beans made him fart." Kate said, very seriously.

"No. He didn't eat the beans, he planted them and they grew into a huge beanstalk that soared over the high fortress walls."

"And so he got to the princess, right?" Kate asked.

"No. it turned out that the beanstalk was an endangered species and the EPA prevented him from climbing it."

"How sad." Kate laughed.

"But our intrepid hero was undaunted. He found a wise old woman who told him that he should build a hot air balloon and soar over the fortress walls and into the princess's heart. So our hero worked day and night on his hot air balloon. Finally it was done. Our ruggedly handsome scribe filled his balloon with hot air…"

"Of which he had an endless supply." Kate added.

"Who's telling this story, if I may ask?" Castle asked, acting somewhat upset.

"Please continue, ruggedly handsome scribe." Kate said, as seriously as she could manage.

"Our hero's hot air balloon rose and soon was over the highest of the fortress's walls."

"So he got to the princess?"

"No. He forgot to read the weather report. He landed in a bunch of scrub pines in southern New Jersey. The winds were wrong."

"How sad. What happened?"

"He decided he'd just have to do things the hard way. He bought a shovel and a pick and began to dig away at the walls, stone by stone, day by day. Fighting off horrible monsters from the Undead Realm of Robbery and a creature from a motorcycle gang from Hell."

"Really?" Kate couldn't help but laugh.

"Really. But each day our brave, hard-working hero would send his lady love a cup of a special beverage to show his deep and abiding love for her."

Kate blushed slightly. "And I'm sure she appreciated it and understood the symbolism."

"Really? Um, you think she understood?"

"She did, eventually, but she was still in her fortress."

Castle smiled. "Eventually, after years and years of backbreaking and dangerous work, he saw the last of the walls collapse and the princess was his. And they lived happily ever after."

Kate kissed him again. "That's a sweet story, Castle. But how does it relate to the occult?"

Castle sighed dramatically. "Don't you see? Our hero believed. Everyone said tearing down those fortress walls was impossible. Even the princess doubted him, but he believed. And if you believe, the impossible can be done. The story proves it."

"You may be right." Kate confessed. "Sometimes the impossible happens. I have proof of that myself."

"Believe me, the ruggedly handsome scribe will do anything, anything at all, even the impossible, for his princess."

"Is that so? As it happens, I'm out of ice cubes, but I can think of something you might be able to do that's not at all impossible."

"Tell me more, Princess Hottie."