129. Chapter 129

After Cloudy with a Chance of Murder, Again

By

UCSbdad

Disclaimer: There's no chance that I own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

"I keep seeing her boobs in your face." Kate pulled away from Rick and walked to her bedroom. He smiled to himself and followed her.

Once in her bedroom, he saw that she was on her bed, faced away from him. Damn! He thought. This may be worse than I thought. He carefully took off his jacket and shoes and quietly slipped onto the bed with her, being careful not to get too close to her. "Kate, I know I made a mistake. You know I love you. I wouldn't trade a million Kristina Coterras for you. You have no reason to be jealous of her…" Rick decided he'd better not bring up her boobs.

"I am." Kate said quietly.

"You have no reason at all to be jealous. I. Love. You. Only you."

"I'm jealous of every single woman you've ever been with."

Castle thought about that. "That's a lot of women, most of whom you've never met. How can you be jealous of women you've never met?"

"Oh, I've met plenty."

"Okay, before we got together I did date some women, but…"

"Meredith." She said quietly.

"You're jealous of Meredith? You know how I feel about her. She drives me crazy. I'd rather date a suicide bomber than Meredith."

"You didn't always feel that way. Do you remember telling me how great sex was with her?" Kate deepened her voice to try to imitate Castle. "Sex with a crazy woman is fantastic."

"But you didn't even like me then? How could you be jealous?"

"Do you have any idea what it's like for a woman when a man tells her how great, how fantastic, sex with another woman is? You made me feel like you thought that I was completely sexless. Like I wasn't even worthy of your notice as a woman."

"I noticed you as a woman. Believe me, I noticed how incredibly hot you are immediately." Castle gently stroked her hair. "And I was plenty jealous of you and Sorenson, too."

"You were jealous of Will?"

"Of course I was. Your old boyfriend drops by and the next thing I know, you're smooching in the break room."

Kate rolled over to face him and smiled. "That's the first time I was really impressed with you."

"What? Watching you smooch?"

"No. Volunteering to take the ransom money to the drop off. We didn't know that the kidnapper was Theresa Candela. You could have been headed for a cold blooded, murderous kidnapper. Before that you had just kind of wandered into danger. That time you went in willingly."

"Now you tell me it could have been dangerous." He joked. "So is that it?"

"Are you kidding me? What about Trina, the under-age model. I was afraid you'd step on your tongue and hurt yourself you were salivating so badly."

"I was just being polite. I knew I knew her from someplace but I couldn't place her." Castle sighed. "Okay, maybe I was a little more than polite."

"Then there's Paula and Nikki." Kate said.

"Wait! Wait! I have never, repeat, never slept with Paula and Nikki is a fictional character. How can you be jealous of her?"

"I'm Nikki. But you never treated me like Rook treated Nikki. You didn't tell me how you felt, like he did."

"Well, you told me how you felt, plenty of times. Do the words "I hate you" ring a bell? How about "Call me a muse and I'll break your legs."?"

"I never accused you of sleeping with Paula. "Kate cleverly avoided talking about Nikki. "You obviously had a far higher opinion of her and the possibility of writing about some spy than you had of me. You never asked me how I felt about you writing more Nikki Heat books. You didn't care how I felt."

"I have always cared how you felt. And I have always cared very deeply for you."

Kate slid closer to him and rested her head on his chest. "And Kyra? She made the stars shine for you?"

"Past tense. You make the stars shine now. I'm sure if you tried, you could turn them off for me, leaving me in utter darkness."

"The kiss on the rooftop?"

"Old friends sometimes kiss."

She laughed. "I'll let you get away with that one." He looked at him. "But, Bachelorette Number Three?"

"I ended up that night with Bachelorette Number One on my all-time list."

"What about Jordan Shaw, Bachelor Number One? What about her?"

"Jordan Shaw? Married with a daughter, Jordan Shaw? How could you be jealous of her?"

"I thought I was your muse, and all of a sudden you're all gaga over her cool toys and making theory and solving the case with her. I didn't know how your writing worked. For all I knew, you'd done all of the research you needed for Nikki Heat and would be off writing Federal Heat next. I thought you were about to just walk away from me."

"Never. Not then and certainly not now."

"Ellie Monroe?" Kate asked.

"Okay, you were jealous and I was used. That was a big mistake, I admit that. But what about Demming? I was really jealous, you know."

She nodded. "I know. I had been a social leper until I met you. I started wanting more. I wanted fun in my life again. I didn't think I had a chance with you, I mean millionaire playboy Richard Castle and Kate Beckett? Really?"

"That's the remarkable Kate Beckett. Really."

She grinned. "I thought you were jealous because you thought Tom was taking your place on the team, not because he was with me. Esposito told me I was wrong and I broke up with Tom and was going to accept your invitation to the Hamptons. You know what happened."

"Gina. Kate, I am so sorry. I know how much that hurt."

She shook her head. "That was my fault. I had pushed you away, chosen another man, and you reacted appropriately."

"I still feel like crap when I think about what I did to you."

"Then there was Maya Santori."

"Kate, she was dead. You cannot be jealous of a dead woman that I never slept with. You cannot!"

"You cared enough for her to come and see her when she was in trouble. You left me alone in the city all summer, finished your book and came back and never called me."

"I hated the thought of seeing you with Demming."

"I didn't like seeing you with Gina, but I was happy to have you back."

"Yeah, and you threw the bet we had, too."

"You were with Gina, and I found Josh. I wanted someone. I was tired of being alone. And you weren't available. I didn't know if you'd ever be available to me."

"And I want to go on record that I was massively jealous of Josh."

"Oddly, he was jealous of you."

"Josh? He was your boyfriend. Your lover. Why was he jealous?"

"I spent more time with you than with him. To be honest, I was falling deeper in love with you and it probably showed."

"I broke up with Gina."

"And you did nothing to indicate you wanted me."

"I'm stupid that way." He kissed her forehead. "I was in love with you by then, too."

"We're both stupid that way, it appears."

"I knew when I broke up with Gina, way before I broke up with Gina, that I only wanted you."

"You picked a nice time to finally tell me." She teased.

"I waited for you. All I needed was a little bit of encouragement."

"And all I gave you was a little bit of encouragement. I should have done more."

"You did all that was needed. We're together now, Kate. You and me. We're a couple now."

"Oh, you had your eye on a few other women."

"Who? That insurance investigator? I dated her because I was working undercover."

"And that's where you would have been if I hadn't arrested her."

"Never."

"And how about Officer Ann Hastings?"

"What? I never had any interest in her. None!"

"Oh, come on, Castle. You were obsessed with her in her skin tight leather costume. I'm surprised you don't want me to dress up for your fantasies."

"My fantasies of you involve undressing, and I was not obsessed with her. I was interested in the super hero genre and its involvement in law enforcement."

"Not her ass in skintight leather?"

"I never noticed. She has an ass?"

"That almost sounded convincing. You're getting better."

"You want convincing? How about, I wish we'd gotten together on our first case because I never would have wanted another woman, just the remarkable Kate Beckett."

She kissed him. "I wish the same, but it never would have happened. We've changed since then."

"You have definitely gotten better."

"But I'll always be afraid of losing you. I'd hate my life without you."

"Then I'll just make sure you always love your life."

"How did we get on this subject anyway?"

"I think we were discussing your boobs in my face." Castle lied.

"I think you're right."