FIC: "The Decline of Literacy," Castle, Kate Beckett/Lanie Parish
Title: The Decline of Literacy
Author: geonncannon
Fandom: Castle
Pairing: Kate Beckett/Lanie Parish
Word Count: 1,091
Category: Friendship
Spoilers: None (pre-series)
Disclaimer: I don't own the series, but I certainly was pulled in by the pilot (obviously).
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Less than 24 hours after the pilot, and I've already got a story for the show. I didn't move this quickly on Sanctuary! But here it is, a pre-slash pre-series story. I hope I'm not the only one who saw the potential between Kate and Lanie (the medical examiner). Plus the fact they were both familiar with Castle's books, well... (and btw, how awesome is the idea of a cop show where the hot female detective reads books? So much love. :D). This won't spoil very much of the pilot other than characterization.
Summary: The first meeting of the NYPD Book Club didn't quite turn out the way Kate expected.
Kate hated the idea of people - coworkers - traipsing around in her apartment on a Saturday afternoon, but she didn't know where else to have the shindig. She checked to make sure there was plenty of dip for the chips, and lots of soda in the fridge. She filled her cheeks with air and blew it out slowly, looking around the apartment and rubbing her hands together. She was about the check her watch when there was a knock on the front door. She smiled and went to let in the first arrival.
She was surprised to see Lanie Parish, the ME, standing in the hallway. The book chosen for their first meeting - Bad Penny, a novel about a private investigator named Penny Champ - was tucked under Lanie's arm. Kate was surprised to see her, but tried not to show it. "Hey, welcome."
"Hi," Lanie said, stepped into the apartment. "I'm not late, am I?"
"No, right on--" Kate looked at her watch and saw that it was ten minutes past when the flyer said the meeting would start. She should have known. A flyer advertising a book club - even posted in the break room above the donut box - would go completely unnoticed by an entire precinct of cops. She pressed her lips together and then forced a smile. "Um. No, you're not late. Come on in."
"Thanks. I kept going back and forth about whether I should come. I didn't know if it was just for cops, or what." She stopped at the threshold of the living room and realized no one else was there. "Um. I got the day right, right?"
Kate nodded. "Yeah. Maybe everyone's caught in traffic."
Lanie looked dubious, but she nodded anyway. "Yeah, probably." She headed into the living room and Kate followed. "Uh, feel free." She gestured at the spread of food and took a seat in her favorite armchair. Lanie took a chip and chewed it slowly as she sat on the couch. She examined the living room, her gaze lingering on the bookshelf. "Wow. Quite a library."
Kate smiled. "What can I say? I like to read."
They ate the chips for a while, Kate continually checking her watch. When ten more minutes passed, she sighed and said, "You want to go ahead and start?"
Lanie shrugged. "Why not?"
Kate picked up her copy of Bad Penny and flipped through it. "I liked it. It was a good start to a mystery series. Penny definitely has issues."
"Huh," Lanie scoffed. "Understatement. That scene with the boyfriend..."
Kate laughed. "Oh, God, which one." She said, "The mystery could have used a little work. I had the bad guy figured out pretty quick."
"That's your fault for being such a good detective," Lanie said. She looked at the spread and said, "Do you have anything in chocolate?"
"Um... well, I suppose since it's going to be just the two of us..." She went into the kitchen and returned with a box of chocolates. Lanie made a sound between a squeal and a chuckle and let her fingers hover over the selections as she made a choice. "So the mystery. You didn't figure it out? That phone call from the 'ex' was a little too convenient, don't you think?"
Lanie shrugged. "It never dawned on me the ex would be a woman."
"Once I realized that was possible, simply because the author went to great lengths to never mention the sex of the caller, I realized the 'Gay Equals Evil' rule went into effect." Lanie tilted her head to the side, so Kate explained. "If a character in a mystery novel is gay, they're automatically the villain. A psycho killer, an obsessed ex, it doesn't matter. Gay Equals Evil."
"Gee," Lanie said. "I never looked at it that way."
Kate shrugged. "It's cliché. But I won't hold it against the author. Every book out there has one cliché or another. I'd give anything for a good, original mystery once in a while."
"Have you read any of Richard Castle's books?"
"I don't think so. What does he write?"
Lanie shook her head and waved her hand. "Okay, that's the next choice for book club. You've gotta read the series from the beginning."
Kate shrugged. "Okay, but... book club?" She gestured at the empty apartment. "Not exactly pushing the occupancy limit here."
"Two people can be a book club."
Kate hesitated and then slowly started to nod. "Yeah. I guess so. Sure. Yeah, why not." She flipped open the book and said, "Are we going to stick to mysteries?"
"Fine with me. I would think you would get enough of that... you know."
Kate nodded and looked down at the book in her hands. "That's real life. I like coming home and visiting a world where the clues are all neatly laid out, where the bad guys are truly bad, and you know that the case will get wrapped up one way or another in three hundred pages. It's cathartic."
"I can definitely see that. And you'll definitely love Castle's books. I'm jealous of you! You're getting to read it all brand-new from the beginning. Plus you have the next book just sitting there waiting until you're ready to read it. No long waits between publications."
"Well, I look forward to going through it with you. No killer lesbians, though, right?"
"Not a one. The only lesbians in his books use their powers for good, not evil."
Kate laughed and leaned back in her chair. She flipped the book open and said, "Okay, back to the book club. What did you think of the Private Eye, Inc. subplot?"
Lanie curled up in the corner of the couch, tucking her feet underneath her as she thumbed through her copy. They talked about the writing style, the plot twists that Kate had seen coming but Lanie totally missed, and the way authors usually got the most basic parts of police procedure wrong.
Kate reached for a chocolate and realized she didn't even care that no one else on the department showed up. Cops made lousy bookworms, she decided. Who had time for fake murders when they had too many unsolved, real murders on their desks? She was an anomaly, and she hoped the book club would draw more like-minded individuals out into the open. Strength in numbers and all that. But this was better. She had a friend, or at least the starts of a possible friendship. That was enough for her.
Author: geonncannon
Fandom: Castle
Pairing: Kate Beckett/Lanie Parish
Word Count: 1,091
Category: Friendship
Spoilers: None (pre-series)
Disclaimer: I don't own the series, but I certainly was pulled in by the pilot (obviously).
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Less than 24 hours after the pilot, and I've already got a story for the show. I didn't move this quickly on Sanctuary! But here it is, a pre-slash pre-series story. I hope I'm not the only one who saw the potential between Kate and Lanie (the medical examiner). Plus the fact they were both familiar with Castle's books, well... (and btw, how awesome is the idea of a cop show where the hot female detective reads books? So much love. :D). This won't spoil very much of the pilot other than characterization.
Summary: The first meeting of the NYPD Book Club didn't quite turn out the way Kate expected.
Kate hated the idea of people - coworkers - traipsing around in her apartment on a Saturday afternoon, but she didn't know where else to have the shindig. She checked to make sure there was plenty of dip for the chips, and lots of soda in the fridge. She filled her cheeks with air and blew it out slowly, looking around the apartment and rubbing her hands together. She was about the check her watch when there was a knock on the front door. She smiled and went to let in the first arrival.
She was surprised to see Lanie Parish, the ME, standing in the hallway. The book chosen for their first meeting - Bad Penny, a novel about a private investigator named Penny Champ - was tucked under Lanie's arm. Kate was surprised to see her, but tried not to show it. "Hey, welcome."
"Hi," Lanie said, stepped into the apartment. "I'm not late, am I?"
"No, right on--" Kate looked at her watch and saw that it was ten minutes past when the flyer said the meeting would start. She should have known. A flyer advertising a book club - even posted in the break room above the donut box - would go completely unnoticed by an entire precinct of cops. She pressed her lips together and then forced a smile. "Um. No, you're not late. Come on in."
"Thanks. I kept going back and forth about whether I should come. I didn't know if it was just for cops, or what." She stopped at the threshold of the living room and realized no one else was there. "Um. I got the day right, right?"
Kate nodded. "Yeah. Maybe everyone's caught in traffic."
Lanie looked dubious, but she nodded anyway. "Yeah, probably." She headed into the living room and Kate followed. "Uh, feel free." She gestured at the spread of food and took a seat in her favorite armchair. Lanie took a chip and chewed it slowly as she sat on the couch. She examined the living room, her gaze lingering on the bookshelf. "Wow. Quite a library."
Kate smiled. "What can I say? I like to read."
They ate the chips for a while, Kate continually checking her watch. When ten more minutes passed, she sighed and said, "You want to go ahead and start?"
Lanie shrugged. "Why not?"
Kate picked up her copy of Bad Penny and flipped through it. "I liked it. It was a good start to a mystery series. Penny definitely has issues."
"Huh," Lanie scoffed. "Understatement. That scene with the boyfriend..."
Kate laughed. "Oh, God, which one." She said, "The mystery could have used a little work. I had the bad guy figured out pretty quick."
"That's your fault for being such a good detective," Lanie said. She looked at the spread and said, "Do you have anything in chocolate?"
"Um... well, I suppose since it's going to be just the two of us..." She went into the kitchen and returned with a box of chocolates. Lanie made a sound between a squeal and a chuckle and let her fingers hover over the selections as she made a choice. "So the mystery. You didn't figure it out? That phone call from the 'ex' was a little too convenient, don't you think?"
Lanie shrugged. "It never dawned on me the ex would be a woman."
"Once I realized that was possible, simply because the author went to great lengths to never mention the sex of the caller, I realized the 'Gay Equals Evil' rule went into effect." Lanie tilted her head to the side, so Kate explained. "If a character in a mystery novel is gay, they're automatically the villain. A psycho killer, an obsessed ex, it doesn't matter. Gay Equals Evil."
"Gee," Lanie said. "I never looked at it that way."
Kate shrugged. "It's cliché. But I won't hold it against the author. Every book out there has one cliché or another. I'd give anything for a good, original mystery once in a while."
"Have you read any of Richard Castle's books?"
"I don't think so. What does he write?"
Lanie shook her head and waved her hand. "Okay, that's the next choice for book club. You've gotta read the series from the beginning."
Kate shrugged. "Okay, but... book club?" She gestured at the empty apartment. "Not exactly pushing the occupancy limit here."
"Two people can be a book club."
Kate hesitated and then slowly started to nod. "Yeah. I guess so. Sure. Yeah, why not." She flipped open the book and said, "Are we going to stick to mysteries?"
"Fine with me. I would think you would get enough of that... you know."
Kate nodded and looked down at the book in her hands. "That's real life. I like coming home and visiting a world where the clues are all neatly laid out, where the bad guys are truly bad, and you know that the case will get wrapped up one way or another in three hundred pages. It's cathartic."
"I can definitely see that. And you'll definitely love Castle's books. I'm jealous of you! You're getting to read it all brand-new from the beginning. Plus you have the next book just sitting there waiting until you're ready to read it. No long waits between publications."
"Well, I look forward to going through it with you. No killer lesbians, though, right?"
"Not a one. The only lesbians in his books use their powers for good, not evil."
Kate laughed and leaned back in her chair. She flipped the book open and said, "Okay, back to the book club. What did you think of the Private Eye, Inc. subplot?"
Lanie curled up in the corner of the couch, tucking her feet underneath her as she thumbed through her copy. They talked about the writing style, the plot twists that Kate had seen coming but Lanie totally missed, and the way authors usually got the most basic parts of police procedure wrong.
Kate reached for a chocolate and realized she didn't even care that no one else on the department showed up. Cops made lousy bookworms, she decided. Who had time for fake murders when they had too many unsolved, real murders on their desks? She was an anomaly, and she hoped the book club would draw more like-minded individuals out into the open. Strength in numbers and all that. But this was better. She had a friend, or at least the starts of a possible friendship. That was enough for her.