79. Chapter 79

After Food to Die For

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: My heart tells me I do not own Castle. Rating: K+ Time: See above.

"Becks, I hope you don't mind sitting out here where everyone can see us. But I do need to be available to the staff in case anything goes wrong. Which I hope it doesn't."

Kate shook her head. "No, any place is fine. I'm just so happy we can get together and talk. It's been a very long time, hasn't it?"

Madison called a waiter over and they both ordered a glass of white wine. "Okay, Becks, tell me all about Castle. You're really not involved with him? Not at all? Not even a little bit?"

Kate laughed. Why did so many people think that she and Castle were somehow involved? She thought to herself. "No, Maddie, Castle and I are not involved. Not at all." Kate gave Maddie a brief history of Castle's cases with her, starting with the Tisdale murders, and briefly recapping all of their subsequent cases together.

"Well, then, why is he always around you? I mean he goes into the precinct where you work like he's one of the cops. That can't be normal, can it?"

Kate shook her head. "He's a writer, you know. And he's doing research for his Nikki Heat books. Knowing Castle's ego, I'm sure he told you all about them."

"No, actually, it was Rocco, Rocco DiSpirito, the chef, who told me about Nikki Heat. She's really based on you?"

"Loosely based on me. Most of it is solely a product of Castle's over active imagination."

"From what I've heard about the book, his imagination involves a lot of sex between Nikki and that Rook character. That can't be all imagination."

"Maddie! It most certainly is! Oh, I mean I'm sure Castle would love to sleep with me, but that's not going to happen. Castle would be great if I was nineteen again and just looking for a good time, but he's not what I'm looking for."

"Aha!" Maddie crowed. "So he has put the moves on you! Tell me about it! Dish! I want to know all about it. Has he invited you out to dinner? Have you gone with him? Where did he ask you to go?"

Kate was a little taken aback by the questions. "He did ask me out after our first case together, but I turned him down."

"Good move." Maddie said." Keep him on the defensive. Way to go, girlfriend."

Kate shook her head again. "Maddie, this is not some sort of game I'm playing. He asked me out to dinner and I turned him down. End of story."

Maddie looked at Kate skeptically. "You've never eaten with him at all? Ever?"

"Okay, he took me to Remy's once…"Kate began.

"Remy's? Do you mean Remy Thibodeau's place, The Big Easy? Oh, I hear the Cajun food there is divine! Of course, you have to like it, which a lot of New Yorkers don't, but…"

"No, not some Cajun place. It's just a little place not far from the station. A lot of cops eat there. We just had a burger, fries and a milkshake."

"That's it? You never had another meal with him?"

Kate was feeling uncomfortable, not knowing exactly why. "Okay, he's bought me lunch a few times, and when that serial killer was after me, he made me breakfast and I returned the favor. It was no big deal." Seeing the look of skepticism on Maddie's face, she added. "And absolutely nothing happened. Nothing!"

"So, has he ever asked you out?"

"Asked me out?"

"Duh! On a date? You know, to a Broadway show, a trip to Atlantic City, a weekend in the Caribbean? You do know what a date is, don't you?"

"No, he's never done anything like that? A trip to the Caribbean? Are you serious?" Kate laughed.

"He's a multimillionaire, Becks. A trip to, oh, say, Aruba, would be no more to him that a trip to the Jersey Shore would have been when we were in high school. Are you sure he's never, ever taken you anyplace nice? Fess up now."

Kate thought for a second. "He did take me to a charity auction for the Metropolitan American Dance Theater, but we were undercover, looking for jewel thieves."

"And that's it?"

"Yes. Mainly we go to crime scenes together, Maddie. Those aren't awfully romantic." Kate was bothered by her friend's questions, without quite knowing why.

"So, has he ever given you anything? Bought you anything?"

Kate blushed slightly. "When we went to the charity function, I needed a dress. A New York cop doesn't go out to black tie and formal gown type affairs and he bought me a gown. But it was solely so I would fit in while we were undercover."

"Did you keep it?" Maddie asked, smirking.

"Yes! But only because it had been altered to my measurements. It couldn't be returned. I haven't worn it since and I doubt I ever will again."

"And that's all he ever bought for you?"

Kate sighed deeply. "Maddie, the only thing he buys for me is a coffee every morning. That's it! Why do you keep insisting that there must be something between Castle and me?"

"Well, mostly because of how curious he was about you."

"He's a writer. He has terminal over curiosity."

"And you're convinced that Castle has no interest in you other than to get you into bed?"

"Yes, Maddie. I know the man. All he's looking for with me is another conquest. That's it. If I slept with him, his interest would evaporate at once."

Maddie nodded and looked at Kate seriously. "Is it true that he has a teenaged daughter?"

"Yes! Her name is Alexis. She's very sweet. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well I'm sure that if you check her paternity, you'll find she's not his. From what you've told me, the man has never been laid in his life. He's a forty year old virgin."

"Maddie! Not his! That is a terrible thing to say! How could you even suggest that?"

"Becks, look around you. All you see here tonight is wall to wall millionaires. That's all that ever come in here, most nights. These are the people I've been dealing with since I got into the restaurant business. Very, very rich men. And let me tell you something, they do not act at all like Rick Castle does when they want to sleep with a woman. They don't buy her cups of coffee. They buy her diamonds, or furs, or sexy lingerie. And they don't ask her out once and then forget about it until they get a chance to buy her a burger at some cop bar. And they don't trail along after her, getting shot at like Castle does. And their egos are too big to keep coming back for months and months. If their intended target doesn't give in quickly, they move on."

"Becks, you've either gotten very dumb in the past few years, or you're not telling me something, or you're not admitting something to yourself. Richard Castle is not just interested in getting you into bed. He wants you, Becks, not as a conquest, but as something real, something permanent."

Kate shook her head. "No, you don't know what you're talking about, Maddie."

Maddie reached across and took Kate's hand. "Becks, I've seen guys who are only in it for the short term for years. I've dated a lot of them. And I've run into a very few guys who are looking for the woman of their dreams. Castle is in the second category."

Kate dropped her eyes and stared at the table cloth. "Maddie, can we talk about something else? Tell me about yourself. What have you been doing?"

Later that night, Kate stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom. The heart wants what the heart wants.