595. Chapter 595

After Hell Hath No Fury

Episode 1.03

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: And hell hath no fury like someone who thinks I say I own Castle. Rating: K+ Time: See above.

"Change it, Castle. Change it tonight. This instant." Detective Kate Beckett was moving forward while Rick Castle was moving backwards.

"I can't. I explained that to you." He said from behind a cardboard Rick Castle. "The contracts have been signed, the publicity hacks have been told, book reviewers have been told: The main character's name is Nikki Heat."

"I don't care. And I don't believe you."

"You don't believe me? Why?"

"Because you make up stuff for a living. Now, change the damned name or I swear I'll break you arm."

"No you won't."

Kate balled her fists at her side and tried to control her temper.

"You won't because you're too good a cop. That's why I'm following you. Because Kate Beckett is a determined, fiercely intelligent and demanding cop who will move heaven and earth to see justice done, but she won't break the law."

"Do you want to bet your arm on that?" She hissed.

"Yes." He said, holding out his arm. "If you're that angry, go ahead. If you do, I'll say that I tripped and broke it. So there won't be any repercussions."

Kate continued to glare at him, but by now she knew that he was safe. She wouldn't break the law and she would never hurt him like that, even if he had hurt her. "You're lucky tonight, Castle." She said.

"I'm lucky I'm shadowing you." He said, but quietly breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to have to explain how he broke his arm. "And Nikki Heat is a good cop's name. You'll like her. Actually, you'll love her."

"Like hell I will. Castle, will you please do this for me? I am not going through this again." As soon as she said the words, she knew she'd made a mistake. And she saw that Castle had picked up on it. She whirled around so she didn't have to face him.

"Again? I'm pretty sure that no other writer has ever shadowed you and based a character on you. Mystery writers are a pretty small community, I'd know." As she stood there with her back to him, he wondered if this had something to do with whatever it was that had made Kate Beckett such a good cop and such an unhappy woman. Is that it? Her boyfriend/fiancé/one and done, broke up with her and posted naked pictures of her on the internet? Revenge porn? No, that would hurt her, but not as badly as she's been hurt. Besides, if any guy tried that, Beckett would qualify him to race as a gelding. Word of that would have gotten around. Someone else got dirty pictures of her and put them online? Again, not enough to do this to her. Someone else close to her had naked pictures put on line? Friend/sister/favorite aunt? Maybe she killed herself? No, Beckett wouldn't be in homicide for that. Vice maybe?

"Castle, look at me. What do you see?" She said suddenly.

"A fiercely determined, caring, scary smart detective. The prefect model for a great cop." He said quickly.

"No, you can't see that from just looking at me. Look at me and tell me what you see."

He looked at her. Great legs, a perfect ass, nice boobs, a beautiful face, eyes I could look into for hours if the rest of her wasn't so distracting and attractive. He decided that a list of her assets wasn't what she was looking for. "You're a beautiful woman, Detective. You certainly know that."

"Do you know what most male cops see? Do you?" She said sharply. "They see a slut. Why else would an attractive woman want to join a profession that's overwhelmingly male if she wasn't looking to get laid? Do you know how many times I've had my boobs fondled, my butt grabbed or someone try to undress me? All by my fellow cops? Do you have any idea what that's like? No, you don't. You have no idea. But I have come way too far and put up with way too much to bring it all back by being the inspiration for some pornographic novel."

"It's not pornographic." Rick said quickly. "Beckett, you know my work. I know you have all of my books. Ryan is reading one of them and he got it from you. Sure, my characters have sex, but it's not pornographic sex."

"You said Nikki Heat is slutty and her name belongs to some stripper, or some hooker." Kate shot back. "It's not a cop's name and I will not put up with the leers and double entendres that I know I'll get."

"Beckett, can I show you something. In the office."

She laughed bitterly. "Like I haven't heard that one before."

"It's my laptop. And do you really think I'm stupid enough to assault a cop and in public? I write on the laptop. I want to show you what I've written so far. It isn't a lot, but I'd like you to read it."

She turned and looked at him suspiciously, then followed him into the tiny office in the back of Broadway Books.

He handed her the laptop. "The chapters are out of order, and there are only three or four of them. The first chapter is pretty well completed, the others aren't. One chapter is the final chapter, but I'm not at all happy about it and I'll change it. Radically, I think. The other things are plot notes, a book outline, some character notes and just things I got from you that may or may not ever get into print."

Kate quickly read through what he had written. "She doesn't spend the rest of the book on her back with her legs spread, does she?"

He shook his head. "Never."

"Does she sleep with anyone?"

Castle took a deep breath. "Two people. One is her hand to hand combat instructor, an ex-Navy SEAL named Roger, or Dave, or maybe Chris. I haven't decided. But they're kind of friends with benefits."

"Anyone else. Or should I say, how many other people?"

"Just one. A tag along journalist who'd doing a piece on the NYPD, named Jameson Rook. He cares for Nikki and she cares for him. They're a couple."

Kate laughed bitterly. "Rook? Do you think I don't know what a rook is, Castle? So this Rook person is fucking Nikki?"

"It's not like that. They don't just have sex, they make love."

"Yeah, like there's a difference." She said sarcastically.

"Actually, there is."

"Not according to a lot of cops, there isn't."

"The book won't make any difference, you know."

She looked up at him, her eyes boring into his. "What the hell do you mean?"

"The people who count, Esposito, Ryan, Captain Montgomery, Lanie, and I'd like to add, me, know you. We know what you're like and we admire you and respect you immensely. The rest, the ones you're worried about, don't worry. If I made the character I'm basing on you into Sister Immaculata, an eighty year old, three hundred pound nun, they'd still call you… names." He finished lamely.

Kate smiled just briefly. "It's all right, Castle. You can use the word. They'd still think I was a whore."

"Which you are not and which Nikki will never be."

She sighed. "So, I can't convince you to change her name?"

"Sister Immaculata? No. And the paperwork with Black Pawn is already done and the name Nikki Heat is already out there."

She handed him back his laptop. "I still hate the name. But, the book….could be readable." She had no intention of boosting Castle's ego.

"You're going to love both."

That night, when Kate went to sleep, she dreamed about work, which was not that unusual. What was unusual was that she was shadowed at work by an eighty year old, three hundred pound nun, named Sister Rick.