Partners, Castleland 20in20 challenge drabbles, fanfic
Twenty Castle drabbles coming up...the first ten are to the prompts from the challenge, the next five had to be on one episode - I chose Countdown - and the last five were all my own work. Hope you enjoy!
Spoilers for everything that's aired :)
Partners
They’ve only known each other a year, and she doesn’t like to admit it to herself, but she needs him with her, now. She’s not ready when he’s shot in the line of duty; she’s not ready to pace up and down the waiting room of a hospital, fear coursing through her veins. And she’s not ready to see him, laid before her in the hospital bed, looking so grey, so broken. Without even having a chance to think, she starts crying.
“Why are you crying?” he whispers, even his voice sounds almost ruined.
“You’re my partner…” is all she can manage.
Family
The first time she takes him to her mother’s grave, he doesn’t want to let the breath he’s holding escape. They’ve only been together four months, and he knows her well enough to realise how much of a big step this is, how personal this is, how much he should value this. She keeps her hand firmly in his, and smiles slightly in the direction of the name on the slab.
“Mom, this is Castle.” She whispers, so quietly he can barely hear it, and he thinks no one has ever loved him so much in his life.
Change
When she wakes up, before she even forces her eyes open, she knows everything’s different. There was violent thunder and lightning the night before, and there’s still rain, but somehow it seems calmer, easier to manage. She feels slightly different, as well, slightly more… complete. She’s in the arms of a man she’s been secretly dreaming of being with for years, but never really expected to be. Strangely, although everything’s completely different, somehow, strangely, everything feels right. She smiles slightly as she presumes that although everything’s changed, it must have changed for the better.
Eyes
She looks at Johanna; she could be looking at herself when she’d just been born. Her dusting of hair is the same colour, that smile on her face is familiar; there’s something about her nose, too. She wishes Johanna’s father was here to meet her, but as she’s been two weeks early, Castle’s still on his tour in Europe, he’ll be back in four days. He’ll love the little girl sleeping here, but she wishes her daughter looked more like him. Then she opens her eyes, and they’re blue, and beautiful. With that she smiles. She’s got Castle’s eyes.
Close
Only weeks after they get together, he develops an obsession with tracing his fingers over her scar when she’s in his bed, staring at it, as if he can’t quite understand how it could have been so close to her heart. And he’s in two different minds. When he’s in a bad mood, and they’ve seen something too terrible, he thinks how unlucky she was to be shot in such a disastrous place, by someone so skilled. And when he’s in a good mood he can’t help thinking how lucky it was to miss killing her, it was so close.
Memory
When she thinks about it hard enough, she can even remember how her mother smelt. When they were cuddled up together, Katie on her mother’s lap, in her pyjamas, and Johanna read her a story; she’d lean her head into her mother’s neck and breathe her in. Like somehow, subconsciously, maybe she knew she wasn’t going to have her forever. She needed something solid to remember. She sighs slightly and tucks the bedcovers around her own daughter, shelving the book she’s just read her away on the shelf. She wants her own girl to have the same memories to hold.
Cold
The first time she really feels like she needs him she has a cold, in all honesty it’s probably nearer the flu, and she’s wrapped in a blanket, curled up on his sofa for weeks. He doesn’t let her get up, he brings her breakfast in bed, sits at home with her all day - he says he doesn’t feel like he has any place up the precinct without his muse - and he brings her dinner and a new blanket every time she asks for one. She smiles to herself every time he turns his back. He’s taking care of her.
Smile
She’s only four, but already Castle can see her mother’s beauty in her face, when she smiles more than anything. Something about her that tells him that one day she will be as irresistible to someone as her mother is to him, as beautiful. He sighs slightly, thinking he didn’t even know that was possible. Jim Beckett stands next to him by the kitchen sink in their new family home in New York, with even a white picket fence, watching little Johanna out of the window.
“She’s got Johanna’s smile.” He muses, almost silently.
Two
She looks heavenly, she’ll never be as beautiful, he’s sure, as she’s walking down the aisle towards him, long white dress simply making her look endlessly tall, long brown locks cascading, a slight smile on her face making her perfect. But he swallows for a moment, because he has to think he’s been here twice before, and it’s ended messily. And she means far more to him than he could even have imagined then, so he’s got to make sure this works. He gives her a huge smile, but swallows slightly. He’s going to have to never stop working hard.
Wet
She’s sat on the swing, the rain’s pouring, and she doesn’t know what to think. She was hanging by a few fingers, and her life was practically flashing before her eyes, and all she could think about was Castle, and the futures they both dreamt about, that they weren’t going to have. That she wasn’t ready to go yet, she hadn’t gotten the courage to tell him how she felt. She’s soaking wet, and she can feel the bruises forming, but she can’t rest, not until she’s sorted this out. She needs him now.
The Freezer
She turns her head, snuggles towards him, and she’s whispering something, and she’s not even sure what she’s whispering. This is gonna be it, and this is never how she thought her life was going to end, and there’s so much she hasn’t done yet, there’s so much she still needs to do, for starters she needs to come to terms with and act on her feelings for the guy whose arms she’s in. So she starts to talk: “Just want you to know how much I-”
But before she gets a chance to continue, the blackness is caving in.
Panic
He’s still groggy, and he can feel the artificial warmth around him, but somehow cold’s still creeping in, like he’d been in so much of it that it has found its way into his bones. Josh’s talking to him, and then Ryan and Esposito are, and for a moment it’s like an out-of-body experience, for a moment in his mind he’s panicking about why he can’t see Beckett, and although he rationally knows the boys wouldn’t be chatting to him if she was dead, he’s still panicking. And then he sees her, wrapped in the grey blanket, and he smiles.
The bomb
He can’t stop staring at the bomb for moments when he first sees it, like it’s somehow hypnotising him. He knows he shouldn’t, but he’s counting the seconds, reading them out from the timer, because he’s got to occupy his brain doing something, or he’ll go mad. Beckett’s talking to Fallon, and then she’s shaking her head, and hanging up, the last seconds of their life are ticking away, and she whispers his name, and he takes her hand, and it’s all going to be over…
And he bites the bullet, and tugs all the wires.
Not Ready
The final seconds of her life are ticking away, and Fallon’s saying he can’t see the picture, and then he’s apologising, and she feels sick to her stomach, but as she breathes his name and takes his hand, somehow grateful it’s Castle she’ll be standing by in her last moments, not anyone else. She’s got so many mixed up feelings for this man she hasn’t even admitted to herself, and she’s not ready to die, but she’s with the best person. Her light can go out in a minute beside maybe her favourite other light in the world…
Wanted to Hear
She’s in the arms of the man that she’s with; hell, the man she’s even telling herself she loves, and she can’t help staring at Castle as he walks away. When Josh appeared behind her… it’s stupid, but she can’t help thinking Castle was going to say something else until he spotted her boyfriend there. What scares her more, however, is that she wants to know what he was gonna say, maybe even wants to hear it. She can’t help herself thinking as she watches him how content she was to be in her last moments with him, hours ago.
The funeral
She doesn’t remember much from it, not anymore. She remembers standing up and saying something, and then a jolt of shocking pain in her chest. She’s not sure how she got there, but somehow she was sprawled on the floor, amongst the warm grass, and staring up into a completely blue sky. She thinks there should have been noises around her, and maybe there were, somewhere, but she couldn’t hear them properly. She saw Castle’s face above hers, and he looked so scared. And then she heard his words.
Stay with me Kate, I love you.
Fear
He'd almost felt the heat of the explosion as Beckett's apartment building burst into flames behind him. For a moment he was frozen, unable to even comprehend the concept of losing Beckett.
He supposed he'd always imagined he'd one day find the courage and he'd finally act on the feelings that he was harbouring for Beckett, feelings that however under wraps he kept them, couldn't seem to stop growing. There were so many possible futures he could see, he'd always been able to see, where they would one day realise how they felt about one another. Those futures had disappeared now.
He realised how much he needed her.
Alexis
When she first saw her in the kitchen one morning in her father’s shirt, when she’d spontaneously arrived home early after a night out with friends, she hated it. Beckett had made her dad’s life hell for the past year, and though he’d never admit it, she’d hurt him so much. She wanted to stop her from ever harming him again. She wanted to do some protecting, after the protecting her dad had done for her.
Then she saw the way her dad looked at Beckett. There was something in his eyes she only saw when he looked at her. He loved her.
Old Together
As he holds her in his arms, and hair that was once brunette and beautiful is now nearing snow-white, and eyes that have always been bright and beautiful now looking so tired, he thinks about everything they’ve achieved in the last fifty years. They were blessed with a daughter of their own, and he’s been blessed with five grandchildren, two from Alexis and three from Johanna, and they’ve even got a great-grandchild on Alexis’ side… She fought her way to the top of the NYPD, he sold two dozen more books, they’ve always had each other. He smiles: they’ve had a good life.
A Deadly Game
“Have a great summer…” she hates herself for that lie, but she’s kicking herself, because she was about to volunteer to go with him, she was about to let her walls down, and dear God, hadn’t she been learning forever not to do that? He’s still talking and Gina’s smiling, and all she can feel are her guts twisting in her stomach. That was such a close shot. She hates herself when her next words come out, sounding slightly strangled, “See you in the fall?” And it’s a question, and she hadn’t even considered the possibility of it being a question.
Spoilers for everything that's aired :)
Partners
They’ve only known each other a year, and she doesn’t like to admit it to herself, but she needs him with her, now. She’s not ready when he’s shot in the line of duty; she’s not ready to pace up and down the waiting room of a hospital, fear coursing through her veins. And she’s not ready to see him, laid before her in the hospital bed, looking so grey, so broken. Without even having a chance to think, she starts crying.
“Why are you crying?” he whispers, even his voice sounds almost ruined.
“You’re my partner…” is all she can manage.
Family
The first time she takes him to her mother’s grave, he doesn’t want to let the breath he’s holding escape. They’ve only been together four months, and he knows her well enough to realise how much of a big step this is, how personal this is, how much he should value this. She keeps her hand firmly in his, and smiles slightly in the direction of the name on the slab.
“Mom, this is Castle.” She whispers, so quietly he can barely hear it, and he thinks no one has ever loved him so much in his life.
Change
When she wakes up, before she even forces her eyes open, she knows everything’s different. There was violent thunder and lightning the night before, and there’s still rain, but somehow it seems calmer, easier to manage. She feels slightly different, as well, slightly more… complete. She’s in the arms of a man she’s been secretly dreaming of being with for years, but never really expected to be. Strangely, although everything’s completely different, somehow, strangely, everything feels right. She smiles slightly as she presumes that although everything’s changed, it must have changed for the better.
Eyes
She looks at Johanna; she could be looking at herself when she’d just been born. Her dusting of hair is the same colour, that smile on her face is familiar; there’s something about her nose, too. She wishes Johanna’s father was here to meet her, but as she’s been two weeks early, Castle’s still on his tour in Europe, he’ll be back in four days. He’ll love the little girl sleeping here, but she wishes her daughter looked more like him. Then she opens her eyes, and they’re blue, and beautiful. With that she smiles. She’s got Castle’s eyes.
Close
Only weeks after they get together, he develops an obsession with tracing his fingers over her scar when she’s in his bed, staring at it, as if he can’t quite understand how it could have been so close to her heart. And he’s in two different minds. When he’s in a bad mood, and they’ve seen something too terrible, he thinks how unlucky she was to be shot in such a disastrous place, by someone so skilled. And when he’s in a good mood he can’t help thinking how lucky it was to miss killing her, it was so close.
Memory
When she thinks about it hard enough, she can even remember how her mother smelt. When they were cuddled up together, Katie on her mother’s lap, in her pyjamas, and Johanna read her a story; she’d lean her head into her mother’s neck and breathe her in. Like somehow, subconsciously, maybe she knew she wasn’t going to have her forever. She needed something solid to remember. She sighs slightly and tucks the bedcovers around her own daughter, shelving the book she’s just read her away on the shelf. She wants her own girl to have the same memories to hold.
Cold
The first time she really feels like she needs him she has a cold, in all honesty it’s probably nearer the flu, and she’s wrapped in a blanket, curled up on his sofa for weeks. He doesn’t let her get up, he brings her breakfast in bed, sits at home with her all day - he says he doesn’t feel like he has any place up the precinct without his muse - and he brings her dinner and a new blanket every time she asks for one. She smiles to herself every time he turns his back. He’s taking care of her.
Smile
She’s only four, but already Castle can see her mother’s beauty in her face, when she smiles more than anything. Something about her that tells him that one day she will be as irresistible to someone as her mother is to him, as beautiful. He sighs slightly, thinking he didn’t even know that was possible. Jim Beckett stands next to him by the kitchen sink in their new family home in New York, with even a white picket fence, watching little Johanna out of the window.
“She’s got Johanna’s smile.” He muses, almost silently.
Two
She looks heavenly, she’ll never be as beautiful, he’s sure, as she’s walking down the aisle towards him, long white dress simply making her look endlessly tall, long brown locks cascading, a slight smile on her face making her perfect. But he swallows for a moment, because he has to think he’s been here twice before, and it’s ended messily. And she means far more to him than he could even have imagined then, so he’s got to make sure this works. He gives her a huge smile, but swallows slightly. He’s going to have to never stop working hard.
Wet
She’s sat on the swing, the rain’s pouring, and she doesn’t know what to think. She was hanging by a few fingers, and her life was practically flashing before her eyes, and all she could think about was Castle, and the futures they both dreamt about, that they weren’t going to have. That she wasn’t ready to go yet, she hadn’t gotten the courage to tell him how she felt. She’s soaking wet, and she can feel the bruises forming, but she can’t rest, not until she’s sorted this out. She needs him now.
The Freezer
She turns her head, snuggles towards him, and she’s whispering something, and she’s not even sure what she’s whispering. This is gonna be it, and this is never how she thought her life was going to end, and there’s so much she hasn’t done yet, there’s so much she still needs to do, for starters she needs to come to terms with and act on her feelings for the guy whose arms she’s in. So she starts to talk: “Just want you to know how much I-”
But before she gets a chance to continue, the blackness is caving in.
Panic
He’s still groggy, and he can feel the artificial warmth around him, but somehow cold’s still creeping in, like he’d been in so much of it that it has found its way into his bones. Josh’s talking to him, and then Ryan and Esposito are, and for a moment it’s like an out-of-body experience, for a moment in his mind he’s panicking about why he can’t see Beckett, and although he rationally knows the boys wouldn’t be chatting to him if she was dead, he’s still panicking. And then he sees her, wrapped in the grey blanket, and he smiles.
The bomb
He can’t stop staring at the bomb for moments when he first sees it, like it’s somehow hypnotising him. He knows he shouldn’t, but he’s counting the seconds, reading them out from the timer, because he’s got to occupy his brain doing something, or he’ll go mad. Beckett’s talking to Fallon, and then she’s shaking her head, and hanging up, the last seconds of their life are ticking away, and she whispers his name, and he takes her hand, and it’s all going to be over…
And he bites the bullet, and tugs all the wires.
Not Ready
The final seconds of her life are ticking away, and Fallon’s saying he can’t see the picture, and then he’s apologising, and she feels sick to her stomach, but as she breathes his name and takes his hand, somehow grateful it’s Castle she’ll be standing by in her last moments, not anyone else. She’s got so many mixed up feelings for this man she hasn’t even admitted to herself, and she’s not ready to die, but she’s with the best person. Her light can go out in a minute beside maybe her favourite other light in the world…
Wanted to Hear
She’s in the arms of the man that she’s with; hell, the man she’s even telling herself she loves, and she can’t help staring at Castle as he walks away. When Josh appeared behind her… it’s stupid, but she can’t help thinking Castle was going to say something else until he spotted her boyfriend there. What scares her more, however, is that she wants to know what he was gonna say, maybe even wants to hear it. She can’t help herself thinking as she watches him how content she was to be in her last moments with him, hours ago.
The funeral
She doesn’t remember much from it, not anymore. She remembers standing up and saying something, and then a jolt of shocking pain in her chest. She’s not sure how she got there, but somehow she was sprawled on the floor, amongst the warm grass, and staring up into a completely blue sky. She thinks there should have been noises around her, and maybe there were, somewhere, but she couldn’t hear them properly. She saw Castle’s face above hers, and he looked so scared. And then she heard his words.
Stay with me Kate, I love you.
Fear
He'd almost felt the heat of the explosion as Beckett's apartment building burst into flames behind him. For a moment he was frozen, unable to even comprehend the concept of losing Beckett.
He supposed he'd always imagined he'd one day find the courage and he'd finally act on the feelings that he was harbouring for Beckett, feelings that however under wraps he kept them, couldn't seem to stop growing. There were so many possible futures he could see, he'd always been able to see, where they would one day realise how they felt about one another. Those futures had disappeared now.
He realised how much he needed her.
Alexis
When she first saw her in the kitchen one morning in her father’s shirt, when she’d spontaneously arrived home early after a night out with friends, she hated it. Beckett had made her dad’s life hell for the past year, and though he’d never admit it, she’d hurt him so much. She wanted to stop her from ever harming him again. She wanted to do some protecting, after the protecting her dad had done for her.
Then she saw the way her dad looked at Beckett. There was something in his eyes she only saw when he looked at her. He loved her.
Old Together
As he holds her in his arms, and hair that was once brunette and beautiful is now nearing snow-white, and eyes that have always been bright and beautiful now looking so tired, he thinks about everything they’ve achieved in the last fifty years. They were blessed with a daughter of their own, and he’s been blessed with five grandchildren, two from Alexis and three from Johanna, and they’ve even got a great-grandchild on Alexis’ side… She fought her way to the top of the NYPD, he sold two dozen more books, they’ve always had each other. He smiles: they’ve had a good life.
A Deadly Game
“Have a great summer…” she hates herself for that lie, but she’s kicking herself, because she was about to volunteer to go with him, she was about to let her walls down, and dear God, hadn’t she been learning forever not to do that? He’s still talking and Gina’s smiling, and all she can feel are her guts twisting in her stomach. That was such a close shot. She hates herself when her next words come out, sounding slightly strangled, “See you in the fall?” And it’s a question, and she hadn’t even considered the possibility of it being a question.