646. Chapter 646

After Countdown

Episode 3.17

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: three, two, one, zero. I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Things had settled down at the Castle household. Both Alexis and Martha had demanded that Castle tell them what happened, and Castle had politely said that nothing really had happened. It was just a false alarm.

"A false alarm, kiddo? If you expect me to buy that, you'll be selling me the Brooklyn Bridge next."

"I can get it for you wholesale." He replied, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Dad, something serious did happen. We should know."

Castle shrugged. "Oddly enough, serious things happen to me all of the time now. And you don't need to know the details on all of them."

Both women gave Castle the stank eye, but it did no good.

"In that case," Martha said, "I think I'll go to an early dinner and then see the new Petrovsky play. They say the young ingénue is just wonderful."

Alexis nodded. "I'm going to go see Ash. And I won't tell him anything about my dad and the serious, unimportant events in his life that he won't share with me."

In minutes, they were both out the door and gone.

Castle got a bottle from his liquor cabinet and a glass and headed to his office. He opened his laptop and saw the screen saver. "You should be writing." No, I shouldn't be writing about this. The whole thing makes me sick. American terrorists. Okay, it's been done. I know that, but his would have been…unprecedented. To hell with it. I'll forget all about every damned thing that happened the past few days.

He opened a different file. This one as pictures of Kate Beckett that he'd sneaked since he'd known her. The earliest ones were really research. He wanted to know how she stood. What her posture was like when she was interrogating a suspect. He had tried to get every detail right. How she wore her sidearm. How she put on her protective vest. He noticed now that he had no pictures of Ryan and Esposito. Roach was more a figment of his imagination than Nikki Heat was. He did have one photo of Captain Montgomery, but only because Beckett was briefing him. He hadn't quite caught the serious, but pleased, look on her face when she could explain everything to the captain.

The later pictures weren't research. Beckett at the murder board, looking pensive. Beckett smiling at something Ryan had said on a stakeout. There was one of her thoroughly angry at a suspect who had been well and truly caught, but who still insisted he was innocent. He had one photo of Beckett's beautiful smile. How I love that smile. His own smile faded. How I love the woman who smiles like that. He took a sip of his Scotch. Okay, I saved New York and maybe a lot of other places from a war that'll never happen now. People will live because of me. Of course, given the world today, who knows how many will die anyway. However, I did lose the girl. I did not save the world and ride off into the sunset with Beckett. He shook his head slowly. Wrong. I did not lose Beckett. I've never had her. First Demming and now Josh, it's obvious she doesn't see me as boyfriend material, let alone anything more serious. I was right though, when I spoke to Alexis. I am more serious now. I'm sure my old police horse stealing self wouldn't recognize me now. Being with a girl for two years and not sleeping with her? Actually being so in love with her that breaking her up with Demming or Josh is out of the question because more than anything else, I want her to be happy. Preferably with me, but as long as she's happy, that's good enough. I wonder how I'll feel when it's truly over between me and Beckett? Can I go back to my old Page Six days? A different beauty every night. None of whom are Beckett? None of whom could possibly be Beckett? Perhaps I could…."

He was roused by the doorbell. "I hope that's not Alexis. She'll get on me if she finds me drinking by myself." He thought about putting the bottle away, but decided it wasn't Alexis. She had her own key and wouldn't have needed to ring the doorbell.

The bell rang again. "I'm coming. Just a second." He called.

He opened the door to find Kate Beckett standing there. "Beckett! What are you doing here?"

"Do I need a reason?" She asked. "Can I come in?"

"Certainly. I apologize. I just wasn't expecting you here."

"To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting to be here myself."

Castle was puzzled by what that meant. "Um, why not? Not that you should ever be expecting to be here, of course. There's no reason, of course, why you shouldn't come here, if you wanted to. But only…"He saw her smiling at him and he stopped talking.

"Josh didn't go to Haiti. He stayed here for me."

"I'm glad." Castle had gotten so good at that lie, he almost felt it was the truth.

"He got a call from the hospital. An emergency. They're sending a helicopter to take him to some place near Greenport. Apparently, the patient can't be moved, so they're taking the doctor to him."

"Too bad. I know how happy you were that he was staying."

"I've been thinking that it's not a bad thing. He won't go to Haiti now, but he'll go later. And then he'll go to Africa, or the Middle East and when he's here, he'll be at the hospital all the time. I'm afraid the dedication I admired is now a problem. I can't really ever seeing Josh putting me first and that's what I expect."

Castle managed not to do the happy dance at this news and refrained from telling Beckett that he would always put her first.

He nodded solemnly. "I guess you know best."

Beckett stared at him for a few seconds. "Would you take me out to dinner tonight? I can pay, you don't have to…."

Castle frowned and shook his head. "If I'm taking you out to dinner, it stands to reason that I'm paying."

"If you're paying, wouldn't that make this a date?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Would it?"

Kate frowned for a second. "I think it's just two people enjoying each other's company."

'Okay, give me five minutes to get changed." he hurried off to his bedroom. Maybe this will work. If Josh is out of the picture, and she's willing to go on an almost date with me, just maybe this could work. But I have to take it very slowly. If I can.

Kate sat in the living room, waiting. I've known for a while that Josh would never put me first. I don't know if Castle would, though. We've been together for nearly two years now, and he's been trying to tell me something for a while now. You don't have to be an extraordinary detective to figure out he's in love with me. And I care about Castle more than I ever thought possible. But is it love? Do I dare love him? Do I dare not love him? I'll just have to take this slowly.