82. Chapter 82

After He's Dead, She's Dead

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: He owns no Castle, she owns no Castle. Rating: K Time: See above and below.

Author's note: Okay, so this is not quite after He's Dead, She's Dead, but it does take place near the very end. Close enough, I say.

Castle turned around to Beckett who was staring at him with an odd look on her face. He took a couple of steps back to her. "Beckett, I just wanted to tell you that I really appreciate you letting me come back to you. Um, back to the team, I mean. It means a lot to me."

Kate shrugged. "You won fair and square." Although both knew that was not true, neither of them said anything. "And you did help on the case."

"Well, I wouldn't have won if you hadn't let me stay for that case only, and then allowed me a chance to be here permanently."

"Permanently?" Kate raised an eyebrow.

"Oh…Permanently is just an expression…Sort of. I mean I'm not going to be here forever. Not anywhere near forever." Castle ran out of words to say. I need to be careful. I really want to tell her that I'd like to be with her for however long she'll let me. And if I did that, I'd be out of here on my butt before I knew what hit me. What I need to do is show Kate that there is magic and that she can find it. It's all around us, Kate, all you have to do is look. I'll help you find it, if you'd let me. Please let me help you, Kate.

But Richard Castle said none of that.

Kate smiled. "I really didn't expect that you'd really want to grow old in the 12th Precinct." Richard Alexander Castle? It's got to be just a coincidence. Or is it? Penny Marchand all of a sudden tells me that she has some of her mother's "gift". By which I'm supposed to think she's a psychic. But what she really means is that she's got her mother's gift for doing research and passing it off as psychic insights. Her mother probably had a file on Castle and even if she no longer had it, how hard would it be to find out that his given middle name is Alexander? She gets that and looks into our work together. Completed NYPD case files are in the public record. It wouldn't be too hard to find out about our gun battle with that Nigerian killer, Baylor, and the Scott Dunn case was all over the news. Castle saved my life, and since he'll be around, he may do so in the future. Put them all together and suddenly, Penny Marchand is a psychic, just like her mother. Exactly like her mother. A fraud! And Penny can continue the family business of scamming vulnerable people out of their money.

But Kate just smiled at Castle. "It's good to have you back, as well. I admit that you're very…unorthodox…" Kate decided that unorthodox was a better word that infuriating or bizarre. But he wasn't that far behind me in figuring out that our last case was about counterfeiting, and he's been ahead of me in other cases. So he's a help to the team. A maddening help and one that I absolutely cannot think of as anything but a partner on my team, and maybe, if we're both lucky, as a friend. But nothing more. Unless he proves he can be more. No! He can't prove that. Finding him guilty before all the evidence is in? An odd voice in her brain said. I will not give my heart to him again. I can't. I just can't!

Castle smiled. "Tomorrow, then, Beckett?"

She returned the smile. "Tomorrow."

Ryan and Esposito watched from the far end of the bullpen. "Did you ever hear such bizarre theories as Castle was spouting on this one?" Espo asked.

Ryan shook his head. "I kept expecting Beckett to blow up at him, but she never did."

"Yeah." Espo grunted.

"But she's sure happy that he's back. She was miserable the whole summer. I don't know how many times I'd look over and she'd be sitting there, just looking at his chair. She was probably wishing he was there."

"Yeah. Probably." Was all that Esposito said.

"And look at how much she's smiling now. She hardly smiled the whole summer. And when she did, I bet she was thinking of Castle. Even with his dumbest theories about psychics, talking to the dead and seeing the future, Beckett would just smile at him and explain to him why he was wrong. It's nice to have Mom and Dad back again. Isn't it?"

Javi glared at his partner. "It's wonderful. It's the best thing since sliced bread. Are you happy now?"

Ryan frowned. What had he done wrong? "What? What's wrong, Javi?"

"Castle never should have left her. Okay, maybe be needed to write, but he didn't need to stay away for the whole summer and he didn't need to come in here with that…blonde. He should have been there for Beckett."

Ryan thought for a second. "Uh, Javi, Beckett was with Demming. What did you expect Castle to do?"

"It's like combat, bro. You don't leave anyone behind. Ever! He should have stayed with Beckett no matter what. If you're with someone, you're with them all the way or until you're both dead. That's the way it ought to be. That's the way Castle should have been with Beckett. We know that she broke up with Demming because of Castle. And we know that Castle isn't here for some damned story. He's here for Beckett. He wasn't there for her when he should have been. It's going to take a hell of a lot more for me to forgive Castle than him making Beckett smile. How do we know he won't make her smile again and then dump her again?"

Ryan thought about that, then shook his head. "Look, suppose you were hot for Beckett."

"Hey! Watch yourself, Ryan. She's like a sister to me. I am not hot for her."

Ryan held up his hands to stop Espo's tirade. "Okay. Suppose Castle's hot for Beckett, which he is. Hell, Javi, he's more than just hot for her. He's not here to get her into bed. He's here because he wants her and he wants her bad. They're a couple, although Beckett is fighting that. He wants to be with her. But, she picks Demming…"

"And she unpicked Demming. And where the hell was Castle? Off banging that blonde."

"He didn't know that. He was trying to do the right thing by Beckett."

"The right thing was to stay!"

"Okay, Javi. You're mad at Castle and you're not going to get off his case. But he is back now with Beckett. Let's just see what happens with them, okay? Maybe it'll all work out. Maybe Beckett will finally be happy."

"And if he hurts her again, I'll break him in two. Slowly."