18So you sorta liked it? I'm glad. Several of your reviews said that Beckett was out of character. I know, I'm sorry, I figured that she'd be slightly thrown by the suddenness of the situation, and I've tried to make her slightly more in character this time round. Also, laurenrules334 pointed out that she would probably know her lefts and rights. I know, but I hope this chapter explains how she kinda does...
And I realised after I'd posted the chapter that I put a page break in the wrong place. Fixed. XD
Again, I don't own anything you recognise.
For MM, who always makes me smile and who, despite what she says, is cute. Fact.
The next morning, Castle picked Beckett up for work, driving the same car they'd been in the day before, in the hope he could make it familiar to her. The journey passed in silence, except for the occasional shiver from the tall detective who was feeling a bit chilly.
"Woah! Castle!" Castle, not used to a relatively unresponsive car, had taken the corner rather too fast, not unlike Beckett's own haphazard driving. With a loud crack, her head came into contact with the window and she recoiled sharply. "Ow – Castle! You said I drove badly!" She fingered her head gingerly, feeling the blood pulsate in her ears. "I think I've got a bruise."
"Oh God, Kate, I'm sorry," Castle said, contrite. "It's a smaller car than I'm used to, and-"
"This is why I drive," she sniped. "I'm not sure the CVPIs would survive without the helm. And look: you don't indicate. How can you be a safe driver if you don't tell anyone which way you're going?"
"You're one to talk!" he protested. "I don't know how you can indicate when you don't know you left from your right-"
"Oh that's right, turn it on me. What would Alexis think if she saw you going through a red light?"
"What would – you have no right to say that! I'll have you know that I've only gone through a red light twice!"
"Oh, well that's twice more than me!" Beckett yelled. "What was it for, late for a date? Or maybe you were on the run?"
"No! The first was Meredith's labour; the second Alexis had been taken to hospital. I don't just break the law for the hell of it," Castle said stonily. "Just because you think I'm bad, doesn't mean I am actually bad."
Kate stared at him. "Castle, I – I'm-"
"Save it." They had arrived at the precinct. Clambering out, they made their way into the building in a silence that rivalled the weather.
"Girl, what'dya do?" Lanie questioned, probing the lump on her friend's head. She picked up the ice pack from beside her and held it to the bruise.
"It was Castle. He was driving and he turned too quickly-"
"Just like you then," Lanie joked, but it didn't have the reaction she wanted. Sighing heavily, Beckett slid off the table, holding the ice to her head.
"Yeah, that's what he said."
"And..?"
"And I insulted his driving back. I mean, come on Lanie, why do I have to retake the test when he drives more dangerously than I do? And why does he get to teach me?"
"Have ya asked him?"
"Yeah! And he said, and I quote: 'because I know things'. She mimicked his deep voice. "But I ended up telling him that he was basically a bad driver who broke the law too easily. So now he hates me." Lanie tried to look sympathetic, but all she managed was a disapproving stare.
"Kate, you gotta go talk to the writer-monkey, or I'mma kick your butt over there. He's doing you a favour, least you could do is be civil. To hell with who can drive better. Now go get him." Sighing again, Beckett walked slowly towards the elevator.
"Thanks Lanie."
"Castle?"
"Beckett?" they asked simultaneously.
"You first," they both grinned.
"I brought you coffee," they said together. Beckett gestured with her elbow towards her desk.
"Let's sit." She plopped herself in her chair, leaning back and setting the cup of coffee and the ice pack gently on the table. "Look, Castle, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that about – about that. I'm grateful for your teaching. I just – it's stressful."
"Hey," he smiled, putting his own cups down. "Let's just go and not get killed. After all, the tragic death of a detective's hero would definitely put a damper on the Christmas party." Picking up a folder and hitting Castle's head with it, Beckett grimaced and stalked out of the room.
"Come on then, superman."
"Castle? Really?" Kate turned a disdainful look on her companion. "I know it's nearly Christmas, but did you have to make the car that bright?" The interior of the car had been decorated in bright tinsel and Christmas tree decorations; green on the right and red on the left. "Uh, are the sides supposed to be separated?"
"I talked to your dad earlier. He said you sailed as a kid, and that you could tell port and starboard apart in an instance. So welcome to your new car: red is left, green is right. Let's go."
Rather than experience the same heart-stopping manoeuvres as yesterday, Castle had decided to direct Kate to a more secluded area on the outskirts on the city.
"Port. Good," he said patronisingly as she swung the car in the correct direction. She sent him a cold look.
"I know where port is. I'm more awake than yesterday." He raised his hands in a placating manner and continued to give her directions.
"Can I put the radio on?"
"Fine." She turned the car around, reversing perfectly into a parking space. "As long as the song's good." Castle prodded the radio, bouncing in his seat. It had been too quiet for his liking.
"Ooh, I know this one!" he cheered as the thumping beat of the song filled the car. "I'm sexy and I know it. I'm sexy and I know- hey!"
"Change it. I'm not having this 'lesson' boost your ego. It's done that too much already. Change the station." Kate peered out of the window. "Is it supposed to be this muddy?" He didn't answer, busy fiddling with the buttons. "Oh, I know this one: Make my wish come true, All I want for Christmas Is you. Ooooh baby-"
"I know, I know, but could you not sing a bit quieter?" Castle covered his ears as she leaned closer to him, staring into his eyes and singing the words at an increasing volume. "Hey! Stop! Are you trying to burst my eardrums?"
"Oh man up, Castle," Kate jeered playfully as she scanned the stations. "What about this one?"
"I think Mother sang this on the stage once," Castle mused, the introduction sparking a memory.
"Maybe she did. It's from West Side Story. You know it? There's a place for us, somewhere a place for us," she began softly, prompting him. He closed his eyes, trying to remember. "Peace and quiet and open air; wait for us: somewhere." Castle's eyes widened in recognition.
"There's a time for us, someday a time for us. Time together with time to spare-"
"Time to learn-"
"Time to care-" Their voices blended into one for the crescendo.
"Someday! Somewhere! We'll find a new way of living. We'll find a way of forgiving. Some-" Suddenly, their duet was broken by a thump on the bonnet, causing both inhabitants of the car to shoot out of their seats. Groans replaced the music as the two rubbed their heads, peering out the windscreen to see what had happened. Lumps of mud had dented the front of the car slightly, cracking and coating the metalwork with a thick brown dust.
"Where'd that come from?" Castle breathed, his hand over his heart as he felt the thumping slowly return to normal.
"I dunno," Kate replied, opening the door and sticking her head out. "It must have come from fairly high up, but there's nowhere for it to have come from…" Closing the door, she put the key in the ignition and began to pull out. "Let's just go, I don't want any more damage to be caused." As the little engine slowly picked up speed, they cruised down the streets until they were nearly back at central New York. Unfortunately, the weather had also decided to step up a notch and rain was now pelting down on them like bullets, smudging the muddy dust all over the bonnet and spraying it over the windscreen. "Ugh, it's like driving through a puddle of mud," Kate commented, curling her lip in disgust as their vision slowly went from bad to worse. "That's it: I'm finding a car wash. I can't drive in this."
Castle muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "you can't drive anyway," but she chose to ignore it, instead pulling up a map on her cell and searching for the nearest drive through car wash. Soon they were pulling up outside it, waiting behind several other cars that had also had the misfortune to be driving through the onslaught. Once under cover of the canopy outside the tunnel, Castle wound down the window, gasping in exaggerated relief as the cool air blasted his face.
"Air! Thank God for air!" he panted, fanning his face. "It's like a furnace in here!"
"Stop being so dramatic, Rick," Kate said sternly, but the sudden use of his first name as well as the small smile on her lips let him know that she was just teasing. "Make sure you put the window up before we go through." Sticking his tongue out, Castle turned back to watching the torrents of rain falling. The warmth of the car with the shelter of the canopy made him feel like he was in a bubble, unable to be harmed by anything outside. He turned to face the front once the car crept forward, feeling a sense of excitement build up in him as he saw the fluffy blue rollers spinning the soap suds away.
"Look Kate! It's like a magical-"
"Castle, it's a car wash. Not Disneyland."
"But look! There's even water…coming…in…" he trailed off as he watched soapy water drip inside the car.
"What?" A shriek came from beside him. "I thought you closed the window!"
"I forgot!" He frantically pounded the window button next to him. "I'm sorry!" In a moment of panic he dug his elbow into the flashing button mocking him, giving it a twist for good measure. "It won't close – Kate, it won't close, the window won't close, we're going to drown, we're going to die-" If the situation hadn't been so alarming, she might have laughed. His voice had risen to rival a four-year-old's screech, and he was waving his hands hysterically at the water, as though trying to push it out of the car again.
"Richard Castle, calm down now! We are not going to die. We are going to go straight through the tunnel and drive back to the precinct, where we will empty this poor, sodden car and leave it to dry overnight. We will not drown." Beckett, while talking sternly, couldn't suppress a giggle at the cross-eyed expression on the writer's face. At the unfamiliar sound, he swivelled to stare at her in astonishment.
"Did you just giggle?"
"No! Must be those suds going to your head." She shook her own fondly and continued driving, wiggling her toes out of her shoes when they were flooded. Silence fell, except for the whirr of the machines and the odd squeak from her companion as the water level rose slightly. When the noises from beside her turned from uncomfortable to delighted, she couldn't stop herself turning to look at him, in time to see Castle stick his head out of the window.
"Look Kate! There are bubbles!" His eyes were bright and excited, and he was pointing to his nose, on which was perched a cluster of pearly white suds. "And look, when I put my head out-" he demonstrated, "-they get wiped off! It's magic! Ow," he continued, rubbing his nose. "Those blue things are rough." Kate rested her head on her hands.
"Of course they're rough. They're supposed to get mud off cars."
"But they look so fluffy!"
"Castle."
"Sorry."
As they left the car wash tunnel, Castle let out a yawn, stretching his legs as far as they would go.
"Mind if I use you as a pillow?" Kate sent him an incredulous look, before shrugging. The day had already been strange enough.
"Sure." Without a reply, he leaned over and rested his ear on her shoulder.
"You're bony."
"Well, sorry. Next time I'll eat an extra pizza so I'm more comfortable." When there was no retort, she frowned down at the lump resting on her. "Castle? Rick?" A gentle snore came from by her ear and she jumped slightly. "I thought I was bony…" she muttered to herself. With an affectionate smile, she tipped her own head to the side and let it rest on his. As she turned the last corner, she felt a tugging at her lapel. Casting her gaze towards the sleeping writer, her eyes widened and a grin slid on to her features.
"Castle? Are you nibbling my coat?"
Ok, so I have an apology to make. I started writing this the day after I posted chapter 1, but lack of a computer over the holidays combined with looking after my granddad sorta put paid to any plans I had of finishing it quickly. Next chapter is planned out (courtesy of my friend Gnomey, and many a free hour between exams) so should be out soon…famous last words, hey?
The last line is a running joke with a group of us at school, inspired by a friend of mine sleeping on my shoulder and apparently looking like he was nibbling my coat, so I thought I may as well make Castle do it for real…..
Anyway. Personally, I'm not as happy with this one as the last, but heydidiho.
Review if you'd like to, they're much appreciated :D
wolfergirl