963. Chapter 963

After To Love and Die in LA

Episode 3.22

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle and I'm pretty sure I don't own LA. Rating: K Time: See above.

Kate checked the time on her phone which was sitting by her bed. He'd be here in a few minutes. She walked into her bathroom and checked herself out in the mirror. She decided she had just the right amount of makeup on, that her clothes were appropriate, but that her hair was too messy. She sighed and decided there was nothing she could do about that now.

When she heard the knock on her door, she jumped ever so slightly. She glared at herself in the mirror. "You don't need to get that excited."

She walked to the door and opened it, surprised not to find who she expected on the other side.

"Mike? You're out of the hospital? Already?"

"Kid, the food there is awful." Mike gestured to his casted leg and his crutches. "Can I sit down? My leg is killing me."

She stood back. "Sure. Come in."

Mike Royce hobbled over to her couch on his crutches and sat down heavily. "Ah, that feels so much better. Can you get me a beer, Kid?"

"Should you be drinking? The doctors said you'd be on some pretty heavy pain meds."

Royce shook his head. "Kid, what's the first thing I taught you?"

Kate shook her head and smiled. "Never argue with your TO, because you'll always lose. Okay, one beer coming up."

She went to her refrigerator and got out a beer, opened it and handed it to Mike. She sat down next to him. "So, what brings you here?"

"I need to know the addresses of the two cops that shot that asshole Ganz off of me. I want to give each of them a bottle of good Scotch."

"Mike, you know you can't give cops a present for doing their duty."

"What did I teach you again, Kid? Okay, so maybe they come home someday and find a bottle of Scotch on their doorsteps. Would anyone rat me out?"

Kate laughed. "Okay, I won't say a word. But I understand that Officer Portillo just drinks rum."

"Okay, rum and Scotch. I'll tell you, Kid, I was never so happy in my life to see that black and white come around the corner with Ganz standing there in the middle of the alley with his suppressed piece in his hand. Two shots and Ganz is history. Oh, I even called the judge about that crazy naked guy they were chasing. I paid his fine and got a pal to put him in a group home where he can get some help."

Kate reached over and took his hand. "I'm glad you're okay, Mike."

"Me, too, Kid. Me too."

"Hey, what's this I hear about you living with Violet Young, you dirty old man?"

Royce laughed. "She got fired from her day job in LA and was in trouble for missing the commercial she was supposed to shoot and she's broke. She's just staying with me until she gets a job. Nothing's going on with us."

"Yeah, right. You're probably filling her head full of stories about Mike Royce, Supercop."

"Never, Kid." After a second he asked, "How are you and your doctor boyfriend?"

Kate looked away. "I broke up with him. I was just fooling myself, Mike. He was never going to be as interested in me as he was in his career. Actually, I would never have cared about him as much as I cared about my career."

"So, are you with Castle now?"

Kate just shook her head.

"Did you get my letter, Kid? And read it?"

"Yes, and I'll admit I really have feelings for him. At least I'll admit that to you. But it's complicated, Mike. He's this rich, famous author and I'm…me."

"Kid, what did I tell you about "if only?"

Kate blushed slightly. "Actually, I kind of told Castle that I was feeling bad about my break up with Josh. I kind of let him believe that Josh had dumped me. He's coming over with some Chinese take out to make me feel better. In fact, he should be here any time."

Royce started to reach for his crutches. "Then I should be leaving. You two need to be alone to talk."

Kate put her hand on his arm. "No, stay, Mike. Castle likes you, and he always brings enough food for ten people. Plus, I like to see the two of you together. The two men in my life. I won't be so….uptight."

Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door.

"That's him."

Kate went to the door to greet Castle, who, as expected, was carrying a large shopping bag full of Chinese food.

"Come in, Castle. Mike Royce is here."

He saw Royce sitting on her couch and a look of disappointment passed quickly over his face. "Oh, well, if you have company already, I can just leave the food with you and…."

He got no further when Royce came over and put one arm around Castle's shoulder. "Castle, did I ever tell you the story of the time Beckett and I collared these two college girls?" As Mike talked, he led Castle to Beckett's dining room table. "Two freshman girls from Wellesley had come to the big, bad city to buy some pot. They hardly had enough to justify a misdemeanor bust, but they were crying and carrying on like they thought they were going away for life."

Castle found himself sitting between Royce and Beckett with a plate of food in front of him.

"Anyway, the Kid decides that the best way to punish these two kids is to do good cop, bad cop on them. She was the bad cop. Started talking about calling in the DEA on these two major drug dealers, and talking about getting them sent away for good to the Super Max prison in Colorado. The two poor girls were in hysterics. I finally told Beckett that we'd let them go if they'd rat out their dealer, who was some Columbia coed."

"Actually, Mike, I think I make a better bad cop than you do. Being a woman, they don't expect me to be tough."

"Which you are, Kid. Which you are."

Kate and Royce continued to tell stories about their days together until they were through with dinner. Royce checked his watch. "I have to get going. It's getting to be my bedtime."

"So early?" Kate asked."

"You can stay, it's early. "Castle added.

"No, I take pain meds for the damned leg. I take one pill in the daytime, but two pills before bed. That'll put me out for nine or ten hours and I mean I am out. I gotta go."

After Royce left, Rick and Kate decided to watch a movie that turned out to be a favorite of both of them. When the movie was over, she gave Castle a hug. "Thanks so much for coming over, Castle. Having you here, as well as Mike, was great. Just great."

"Glad to help. Maybe we can do this again sometime."

Kate knew that she should make some sort of noncommittal remark and send Castle home. But somehow her mouth had developed a mind of its own. "This weekend? I'm not on call."

Castle was a little surprised, but accepted at once. "Sure, we could go out to a movie and a late dinner. I'll check and see what's playing. See you tomorrow at the precinct?"

"Tomorrow."

ME Lanie Parish looked up to see a stranger in her morgue. "Can I help you, sir?"

The man smiled at her. "Just looking around. I almost ended up here. I'm Mike Royce. I used to be Kate Beckett's TO."

Lanie held out her hand and Mike took it. "I'm always glad to meet someone who didn't end up here. Involuntarily, anyway. And I'm glad to see any friend of Kate's."

"Yeah. I screwed up a while back, but Kate's managed to forgive me. I don't know if I deserve forgiveness from her. I hurt her real bad."

"Kate's pretty tough, but she does have a soft center for some people."

"Like Castle?"

Lanie did a very respectable eye roll. "I absolutely do not know what's wrong with that girl. She's so smart with most things, but with Castle….."

"So you got the vibe, too?" Mike asked.

"I've got it? Everyone in the precinct knows those two belong together, but nothing ever happens."

"What's the problem?"

"Mostly it's Beckett. When she lost her mom, she changed. She built a wall around herself so she'd never feel like she did when she lost her mom. She's just afraid."

"What about Castle? Why doesn't he say or do something?"

"Kate's been pushing him away for years. Not letting him get close. He's afraid if he pushes too hard, she'll tell him to get out of her life. She did that when he looked into her mom's murder when she told him not to."

"But that led to her finding the guy, didn't it?"

"Eventually. But she was furious with him at first. I don't know how he got back in her good graces, but he's afraid of pushing her now."

"So maybe the two of them need a little shove?"

Lanie snorted. "They need a quick kick in the ass is what they need."

Royce laughed. "Luckily I have my ass kicking shoes on."

Castle was sitting at Beckett's desk, going over some financials from a case when Royce sat down in Kate's chair.

"She's not here, Mike. She and the boys are testifying at a preliminary hearing. The perp hired a big time defense attorney, so Beckett said this could easily take a couple of days."

Royce, who had made sure that neither Kate nor her team would be around, faked surprise. "Don't worry about it. Beckett'll have the whole case locked down no matter what that shyster tries to do. Hey, look, it's about lunch time, why don't we go over to Remy's and I can tell you some more stories about Beckett."

Royce had counted on Castle's desire to hear more about Kate Beckett. Castle at once put away the report he'd been reading, and followed Royce to the elevator.