164. Chapter 164

After A Vampire Weekend, Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: May the sun never shine on me if I claim to own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above, but see also author's note below.

Author's note: I wrote an After A Vampire Weekend story before, Chapter 65, but wasn't entirely happy with it, so I'm redoing it. However, Chapter 65 took place at Hallowe'en 2014 and this one takes place right after the 2009 episode. So this is a sort of a Before the After story. Or perhaps it's an After… story and then a Very After story. Or maybe…Forget it. Just read the thing.

"Thanks for staying to help clean up." Rick said as he scraped the last of the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

"No problem." Beckett said, putting some leftovers in the fridge. "My mom always said if you ate the food, you should clean up the mess."

Rick looked over at her. She was staring into space, her eyes unfocused. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You all right?"

She nodded and smiled at him. "Yeah. Every once in a while, it kind of hits me that I'll never see her again."

He gave her shoulder a light squeeze. "You know that I'll always be here. If you do need something, that is. Even if it's just someone to sit and watch you while you stare into space."

She nodded, looking serious. "Yeah. Actually, I do know that." I do know that, don't I? She thought.

He took his hand off of her shoulder. "Would you like some wine? There's about two glasses of the white wine left."

She started to decline, but changed her mind. "Sure, I'd love a glass."

He got two wine glasses out and poured the wine. When he came back, she was sitting on the couch, over at one end. He handed her the glass and sat at the other end. "Cheers."

"Cheers." She said back and took a sip.

"Anything I can do for you?" He asked, hoping there was something he could do.

"There is, but you won't do it."

"What?" He said, surprised. "Hey! I meant it. If you need anything, just ask. If I can't help you, I'm sure I know a guy who can."

She snorted. "Oh, big talk now, but when the time comes to perform…" She made a dismissive motion with her hands. "Castle is nowhere to be seen."

"Is that so, Detective Beckett? You just tell me what it is you want."

Kate smiled at him. "Tell me why you're so interested in murder."

Castle slapped his face with his palm. "Oh, well played Detective Beckett! Well played, indeed." He smiled. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes."

"It's not that interesting a story."

"Ooooh! That probably means you don't come out looking very good in the story. Now I really want to hear it, Castle."

"Okay, the answer to your question is…"He paused dramatically. "I can't tell you."

Kate glared at him. "Thanks, Castle. I was right. You don't come out looking very good."

"But I told you the truth. I can't tell you because I don't really know. I can think of any number of things that probably contributed to my fascination with murder, but there's no one overriding event that caused it."

"Really?" She said skeptically." Not at all?"

"When I was about ten, I was in the New York Public Library. I was looking for something to read and this guy gave me a copy of Casino Royale, Ian Flaming's first James Bond book. I was fascinated by that book. I was really the first adult book I ever read. It was mostly comics and kid's books before that."

"But that was the start."

Castle shrugged. "Sort of. I read other spy books, John LeCarre, Eric Ambler, all the way back to Erskine Childers who wrote The Riddle of the Sands, a novel about a projected German invasion of England, back in 1903. But that wasn't all I read, Beckett. I read Larry McMurtry, you know, Lonesome Dove and Louis L'Amour. Who knows, I could have written a book about a tough, but gorgeous, Texas Ranger who's shadowed by a ruggedly handsome New York newspaperman."

Kate shook her head slowly. "Texas Heat?

"Hey, let me write that down. That's a keeper."

"Only if I get credit and am a profit participant." Kate said quickly.

"Maybe not. I read other books, H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, not only the Sherlock Holmes books, but the White Company and Sir Nigel, about the Hundred Years War.

"Then there were the hardboiled detective books. Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon. Then there's Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker." Castle got a faraway look in his eyes. "I can see Rick, of Rick's Café Americain, standing in the fog with Nikki in Casablanca. They get on the airplane together, of course."

"Of course." Kate said, knowing exactly who Nikki would look like.

"I even went through a Hemingway phase." Castle again looked into the distance again. "El Ingles shot Perlmutter with the Mannlicher. He died in the rain. It was good."

Kate slowly shook her head. "Not quite up with For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Castle ignored her criticism. "Of course there were people who influenced me. Mostly Martha, I guess. Being an actress, she always encouraged me to use my imagination. When we didn't have much money, she'd insist that I should make up my own games, tell stories, and…Well, anything that didn't cost money."

"You have a good relationship with your mom, don't you?" I'd love to have that kind of relationship again. Things with Dad are great, but it's not the same as the mother-daughter dynamic.

"You okay?" Castle asked, concern showing on his face.

"Yeah." She replied. Sometimes I think I might be better if I opened up to you, but then again…

Castle went on. "I read other things than novels, of course. I read a lot of history. So much of it is just murder on a vast scale, especially when you get to the twentieth century. I told Alexis earlier tonight that one of the reasons I write is to try to understand how people can do all of the things they do to one another."

Kate nodded slowly. "I have the same problem. Figuring out why people do what they do. Did someone really need the money so badly that they killed for it? Was breaking up with someone so devastating that you had to kill the other person? It really makes no sense."

"I could go on, Beckett. About books I've read, people I've met, things I've seen, but there's the nub of it. There are a million reasons I write about murder. I can't really pick one out."

"Castle, maybe the reason you gave to Alexis is the best. You write about it to understand murder. If we understand it, maybe we can stop it, or at least limit it."

"I hope so."

Kate looked at her watch and stood up. "I have to be going. It's late and I have to work tomorrow."

"Thank you for coming tonight, Beckett. I really enjoyed having you here." I wish I could tell you how much I enjoy your company, but you'd totally freak out if I did.

"I enjoyed being here, too. Thanks for inviting me." I'm starting to enjoy your company too much, I know that. It'll never work between us and I can't stand the thought of letting someone in and being hurt again. I just wish I could stop this.

"Tomorrow, Beckett."

"Good night, Castle."