197. Chapter 197

After Lucky Stiff, Yet Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I'm not lucky enough to own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

"Castle, I said no and I mean no!"

"Please, honey? Just this once?" Castle was whining just a bit.

"No. Absolutely not. Just forget about it." Kate gave Castle her second best glare.

"But why not?"

"Castle, I just don't want you to do that sort of thing with me!"

"But we're married."

Kate shook her head. "That's not the point."

Castle got a stubborn look on his face. "Give me one good reason I can't buy the woman I love a car."

Kate's glare increased. "My whole life, I've paid my own way, Rick. That's the way I was brought up. That's just the way I am. Now if I really needed a car, that would be different, but I don't. You're just doing this on a whim. You just want to spoil me and coddle me because…"She smiled and looked at the floor so he wouldn't see her smile. "You love me."

"And because you should have a car." Castle added quickly. Sensing an opening, he quickly followed that up. "Look around you. This is our loft. We own a home in the Hamptons. Do you worry about living here with me because you didn't pay for it?"

"No, I don't. Because we need to live someplace. I'm perfectly willing to accept that the houses are ours. We need them. But, we also own a Ferrari and a Mercedes, and my Harley. We don't need a car for me. What happened was a one-time thing. Alexis took the Mercedes to help her girlfriend move from the dorms to an apartment. On that same day, Martha borrowed the Ferrari to chauffer around a drama professor from Hudson University that could steer some students her way. My cruiser was in the police garage. And, I need to take some dresses to the dry cleaners and they got badly soiled when some idiot didn't see me on my Harley and I had to lay my bike down. I didn't get a scratch. That does not mean I need a car all to myself."

"Sure it does. Everything is now ours, Kate. The houses are ours, the car are ours, the books are ours, the art works are ours, the…"

"The full sized statue of Bobba Fett in the bathroom is yours." Kate said firmly.

"What do you have against Star Wars?" Castle asked bewilderedly.

"You do not need to buy me a brand new Mercedes, Castle."

"But I want to buy you a car. I love to buy you things. I love you."

Kate took a step towards him and put her arms around him and kissed him. "And I love you. And that's one of the reasons I don't want you to buy me a car just because you can and you want to spoil me. I don't like for you to spoil or pamper or coddle me."

"Why, when you know how much I love you and how much I love doing things for you?" Castle was sounding a lot more serious now.

"Do you remember the four or five years of our relationship?"

Castle nodded, "Of course I do. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Then you remember what a cold hearted, self-centered bitch I was to you during that time."

"Hey! I fell in love with you then. You were never a cold hearted…."He stopped. "I don't want to say the rest because it isn't accurate. I fell in love with you then, Kate. You had problems, yes, but who wouldn't after what happened to you. I never blamed you for what happened. A lot of it was as much my fault as anyone's."

"Bullshit. Rick, I pushed you away as hard as I could, even when I was falling in love with you. You were right, I did hide in relationships with men I didn't love and I had a very bad relationship with the man I did love. I lied to you about the most important thing imaginable, that I knew that you loved me. I hid my job in DC from you until it was too late. I always thought of myself first. My mom's death was my only priority. My vision of what my one and done was like didn't change even after I knew how much and how deeply I loved you. My needs, my future, my… everything was all I thought about. It's taken me a long time to start thinking about us. And you are my number one priority now. "

Kate started to cry and Castle gently brushed the tears away. "You told me once that money intensifies who and what we are. You are a generous man and you have always been there for me. Not just with money, or your Ferrari when I needed it. Do you have any idea how much I loved getting coffee from you every morning? When you brought me coffee I knew that my partner, and then my friend, and then my lover would be with me to cheer me up, to help me solve cases, to listen to me, to make me part of his life for that day. You were always there for me. Rick. Always. Even when I was temporarily with Demming or Josh, you stayed with me. No matter how badly I behaved towards you, you were always there. You've already done so much for me and I feel that I've done so little in return, that I don't want you to do anything more for me. I want to do things for you."

"Kate, do you have any idea how much you've done for me already?"

She shook her head. "What?"

"You made me grow up. I'm a vastly better man now than I was before I met you, and it's because of you. And, as far as money goes, where would I be without Detective Kate Beckett, the real life inspiration for Nikki Heat?"

"You wrote best sellers before, you could have done it again without me."

"No, my world wouldn't have been anything without you."

"You're sweet, but the bottom line is, I don't need a car all of my own."

Castle smiled. "You're right. The whole problem here is that Alexis and Martha needed our cars. So, the solution is to get Alexis and Martha their own cars. A Ferrari for Alexis, I think. A Mercedes for Martha? Um, I'm thinking maybe a Rolls or a Bentley. The Rolls' have a reputation of being the first toy a louche rock star or Saudi prince goes for. The Bentley has a more serious image, I think."

"Castle!" Kate cried, giving him her number one glare.

Castle ignored her and went on. "And, our Ferrari and our Mercedes are getting a bit old. I should buy two new ones. And maybe a Bentley, too."

"Do you have any idea how much that would cost?"

Castle just smiled at her. "If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it." Castle looked at her with all the seriousness he could muster. "You don't have any problem with me buying something for my daughter or my mother, do you?"

"My darling husband, I'd love for you to buy me a new car. A Mercedes if you have to, although it's not necessary."

"I have one all picked out for you down at the dealer's. I'm sure you'll love it. Shall we go pick it up?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Castle, I'm going to have to pay you back for this."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Something in the back seat of a Mercedes."