155. Chapter 155

AU After Always Buy Retail

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I did not buy Castle, wholesale or retail. Not even a cheap knock off. Rating: K Time: See above, but in the well known alternate universe.

"Don't you dare!" She whispered fiercely as a shot smashed more crockery, and glass rained down on both of them. "Back up will be here in a few minutes."

"As soon as he figures out this kitchen island won't stop a bullet he'll be firing through it and into us. All backup will find is our dead bodies. Now get ready to shoot." He was getting ready to uncork the champagne and was already starting to shake it.

She cursed under her breath and got ready to shoot. How the hell did I ever allow myself to get saddled with him?

Castle popped out from behind the island and she heard the pop of the cork, followed by a shot from Baylor. She stood and put two rounds into the Nigerian and he fell. She leaped onto him, kicked his gun away and cuffed him. She turned to look at Castle who was standing with a shocked look on his face. He damned well ought to be shocked, She thought. He's never been in a gun battle and he's never seen anyone shot before.

When she heard backup coming down the hall for them, she walked over to Castle and pushed him hard. "Dammit! What did I tell you? You could have gotten yourself killed!"

Castle just looked at her and then sagged against the wall. He put his right hand under his coat. It came back out with blood on it.

"Castle!" She screamed. "Officer down! Get the ambulance crew up here now!"

Castle was absurdly pleased that she'd referred to his being shot as an officer down.

Kate pulled his shirt open, scattering buttons all over the floor.

"Beckett." He said softly. "Please. Not in front of company. Control yourself."

She pulled his tee shirt up and looked at the wound. "I think you just got a nasty gouge along your chest. It's not bleeding too badly." She found a roll of paper towels and used them to absorb the blood. "Where's the damned ambulance?" She screamed. "I've got a wounded man here."

In seconds two sets of paramedics were in the room, one set for Baylor and one for Castle. They politely but firmly moved Kate aside.

One of the paramedics spoke to her. "If you have to get shot, that's how to do it. But we're going to take him in. There may be pieces of the bullet or shivers of bone that got broken off. Better safe than sorry."

Kate nodded. "I'm going with you."

Assuming Castle was a fellow cop, the paramedic nodded. "Okay. You can ride in back with us. But he'll be okay."

When they arrived at the hospital's emergency room, Kate showed her badge and made sure that she would be told the second Castle had been treated. She had been sitting outside the ER for about an hour when Ryan and Esposito walked in.

"I hear your partner got shot." Espo said. "Bad?"

"Just a scratch. And he's not my partner."

"Kinda looks that way to everyone else." Ryan said.

"He's not my partner." Kate said in a tone of voice that said that the discussion was over.

"Whatever you say. We'll go back and start the paperwork."

Just as they started to leave, a doctor stuck his head around a corner. "Detective Beckett? You can see your partner now."

Ryan and Esposito managed to keep from smiling. Kate glared at them anyway.

She found Castle tucking a pastel green tee shirt into his pants. "They cut my jacket, shirt and tee shirt off of me. I didn't know they really did that. Luckily one of the interns is about my size. I bought this tee shirt from him. Kind of Miami Vice, don't you think? Maybe I should start wearing just a colored tee shirt under a sport coat. What do you think?"

"They're releasing you? Already?"

He shook his head. "I'm being released against medical advice. They wanted to keep me here overnight for observation. And they said I should stay home for a couple of days. You have no idea how much paperwork I had to sign to get out of here. But don't worry, I'll be in tomorrow. I'm fine. Ready to go."

"No." She said as firmly as she could. "You won't be coming in tomorrow."

"What? This?" He pointed to his side. "This is nothing. I remember once I went parasailing with these two stewardesses in the Caribbean. Well, Candy's bikini top came off while we were in the air…" He stopped. "Maybe not an appropriate story? But I'll be in tomorrow. Can you give me a ride home?"

"Castle. You aren't coming in tomorrow. You're not coming in ever. We're done. I thought when this started, that you'd just hang around, soak up the atmosphere, pick up some cop slang, and do…do writer stuff. I never expected you to get shot. I won't be responsible for getting you killed. I'm not going to do it. I will not let you follow me around any more."

He smiled at her. "Beckett, I'm touched. Really, I am. But if I get shot again, it'll be my fault, or more likely the fault of the guy who shot me. Not yours. Besides, it's not your call. I'm with you and that's that. I can get a cab if you don't want to give me a ride, you know."

Beckett gave him a ride and all the way back to his loft she tried to convince him to not accompany her on anything dangerous, to stay in the precinct.

"Not go with you on anything dangerous? Are you kidding, Beckett? If I did that, you'd probably be dead right now. Do you think I'm going to let that happen? Forget it."

The last thing she said to him as he got out of the car was, "I'm going to talk to Montgomery about this the first thing tomorrow!" He just waved and smiled at her.

The next morning, Kate was right behind Captain Montgomery when he went into his office.

"Yes, Beckett?" He said.

"Sir, it's about Castle. He got shot yesterday. Nothing serious, but he still go shot."

Montgomery nodded. "I know. I was on the phone with the mayor at six AM about Castle."

Kate smiled. "Then both you and the mayor will understand why I can't let Castle shadow me anymore. He could have gotten killed. He might get killed the next time."

"Ryan and Esposito might get killed, too. Are you asking that I keep them in the precinct, too?"

"Of course not, Captain. They're trained police officers, plus they signed up for this."

"Castle signed up for this, too. I know. I had to read everything he signed to make sure the lawyers didn't leave anything out. And he may not have any traditional police training, but he is very knowledgeable. He told us to look at the tenants when that nanny was murdered."

"Sir, we would have thought to check them out, sooner or later." Kate protested.

"Before or after someone else died?" Montgomery responded. "Castle's the one that knew all about vodun, too, isn't he? And, from what Ryan and Esposito told me that trick with the champagne bottle saved your life."

"And could have gotten him killed, Captain. I don't think that…"

Montgomery waved her into silence. "Have you been following our budget, Beckett?"

Confused by the change of the subject, Kate shook her head. "Not really, sir. I know we've had our budget cut."

Montgomery nodded. "Because of the hiring freeze, we can't even fill the open positions we still have." Then he smiled. "But, I got authorization for another detective. That'll being Karpowski's team up to full strength, anyway. And I got two new uniforms. One's straight out of the Academy, so she'll need a lot of training, but the other one has three years on the streets."

The shock registered on Kate's face when she realized what Captain Montgomery had done. "Sir, you didn't…You couldn't…Did you?"

He nodded and smiled. "I told the mayor that with my best homicide detective, and her team, trying to ride herd on Castle, and solve murders, we'd be in deep trouble. The mayor admitted that Castle can be a handful. I was hoping to get three detectives, but another detective and two uniforms? That's a win in my book. Any questions, Kate?"

Kate accepted defeat and left Montgomery's office. She glared at Ryan and Esposito as she walked by their desks. "Traitors." She muttered. The boys looked at her, and then shrugged.

As soon as Castle came in, she dragged him into the break room and closed the door. She stood close to him and put one hand on his chest. "Is the offer of dinner still open?"

"Sure. Why do you want to know?"

She rubbed her hand on his chest. "We could debrief each other." She said in a low, sexy voice.

"So I could be your conquest?"

"Or I could be yours."

Castle laughed.

She took a quick step back, her face red with shame and anger. "I may not be the super models and Hollywood starlets you're used to me, but laughing at me, Castle? Really? Am I that…"

"No. No. Not at all, Beckett. You're as beautiful, as sexy and as desirable as any woman I've ever dated. You're also smarter that ninety percent of them and more interesting that ninety nine percent of them. But I won't sleep with you."

"Why not?" She was both angry and confused now.

"I don't sleep with women who want something from me. That's what this is all about isn't it? You'll sleep with me if I'll stop shadowing you?"

She nodded angrily.

"Don't worry, Beckett. We will sleep together when we're both ready for it."

"When we're both…." She hissed. "You are so…so…"

2014

"…arrogant." Kate said. "Telling me that we'd sleep together."

"I wasn't being arrogant. I just knew what the Universe had in store for us."

"The universe? That's what you call it?" She said with a laugh.

"That day that we were reading the letters fans wrote to me, for the Tisdale case? When I told you your story? So you remember that."

She nodded. "Of course."

"Just for a second, your walls were down and I saw all of the pain in your eyes. I just wanted to take you in my arms and hold you. I wanted to tell you that I'd take all the pain away and replace it with joy."

She nodded, then leaned over and kissed her husband. "I would have broken your arms. But you have taken so much pain away and given me so much joy."

He kissed her forehead. "And that's what I'll do. Always."