Castle ficlet: "Which Future: Castle"
Title: Which future: Castle.
Author: Keenir.
Fandom: Castle.
Rating: PG13
Warning: holding a mirror up to Castle.
Characters/Pairing: Richard, Alexis, Martha, Beckett, Montgomery, Ryan, Esposito.
Summary: Richard Castle is jolted into thinking what Beckett would want.
note: Been trying to think of the right way to put this for a few days now.
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Opening the door to his apartment, telling the person on the other end of his cell phone, "No, I just told you, I don't know who told them to do that," Castle said. "Well yeah, finding out who told them to pull all the remaining copies of Heat Wave off the shelves sounds like a pretty good id- Me? What do you mean 'you did it'?" And, silently, Castle nodded and hung up, clicking his phone closed and shut his apartment door shut.
He looked at the only two people in the apartment: his mother and his daughter, both in the kitchen, where he joined them mutely.
"Hey Dad," Alexis said.
"Another exciting day?" Martha asked.
"It was...until every news network decided to talk about how I was stopping publication of Heat Wave and having bookstores send their unsold copies back to the publisher."
"Huh."
"And did I mention that I wasn't consulted?" Castle asked rhetorically. So he turned to look at his daughter. "You did it, didn't you? I let you forge my signature one too many times - the power went to your head," and any other time, he would've joked with her about how proud he was of her.
"I did what I had to," Alexis said. "Don't worry, they'll stop the recall and they'll keep printing Nikki Heat."
"Then why?"
"To draw your attention to what you were doing."
"What'm I doing?" he asked his daughter.
Alexis just looked at him, as if she expected him to figure out the answer without prompting.
"Seriously, why?"
"Dad," Alexis said, "Not everybody likes being turned into a character in your books."
"She has a point there," Martha said. "At least half of those people are holding a grudge - or worse - towards you, Richard."
Alexis didn't look like she was enjoying this, but looked like she was saying it because it needed to be said. "It's up to you, Dad," Alexis said. "Does Detective Beckett like being Nikki Heat?" And can you tell the difference between them?
Before Richard Castle could answer, Alexis turned away and headed for the stairs upstairs. "I've got to get up early to help tutor before homeroom tomorrow. Good night."
"Night," Martha told her. To her son, "Aren't you old enough yet that you don't have to live vicariously through your characters?" And Martha said, "Think it over. Beckett won't be the only one to thank you," and headed to her room.
And so Castle was left alone in the kitchen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the next morning
"Beckett," Montgomery said, summoning her to his office.
"Sir?" Beckett asked when she got to the door of his office.
In answer, he pointed to the tv screen.
Kate looked at the news station it was turned to, wondering why a red calf being born in Kandahar was signifigant...and then she read what was scrolling across the information bar at the bottom of the screen: HYPERION announces they will begin purchasing all copies of best-seller HEAT WAVE from all who have a copy of the book. Author Richard Castle personally extends his apologies. "No HEAT sequels will hit shelves," publicist says.
"Wow," Ryan says, him and Esposito having joined her at the doorway.
Only then did Beckett realize her jaw had dropped at some point. Closing it, she looked at her boss, hoping he had an explanation.
"Now you know all I know," was what Montgomery said.
"Castle?" Beckett asked.
"And owning it," Castle said, coming down the hallway. The boys made room for him to go in the office, but he shook his head. To all four officers of the law, Castle said, "Just came in to let you all know I'm not going to be following you around on cases any more. And before you ask, I'll make sure none of the fallout lands anywhere near you," he told the four.
"You're leaving?" Beckett asked.
"Well I was hoping to ask you to dinner."
"Um...tomorrow?" she said, not entirely surprised at how easily Castle could re-order the universe and still land on his feet.
Yes! "I'll see the rest of you around," he said before walking out.
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The End
Author: Keenir.
Fandom: Castle.
Rating: PG13
Warning: holding a mirror up to Castle.
Characters/Pairing: Richard, Alexis, Martha, Beckett, Montgomery, Ryan, Esposito.
Summary: Richard Castle is jolted into thinking what Beckett would want.
note: Been trying to think of the right way to put this for a few days now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Opening the door to his apartment, telling the person on the other end of his cell phone, "No, I just told you, I don't know who told them to do that," Castle said. "Well yeah, finding out who told them to pull all the remaining copies of Heat Wave off the shelves sounds like a pretty good id- Me? What do you mean 'you did it'?" And, silently, Castle nodded and hung up, clicking his phone closed and shut his apartment door shut.
He looked at the only two people in the apartment: his mother and his daughter, both in the kitchen, where he joined them mutely.
"Hey Dad," Alexis said.
"Another exciting day?" Martha asked.
"It was...until every news network decided to talk about how I was stopping publication of Heat Wave and having bookstores send their unsold copies back to the publisher."
"Huh."
"And did I mention that I wasn't consulted?" Castle asked rhetorically. So he turned to look at his daughter. "You did it, didn't you? I let you forge my signature one too many times - the power went to your head," and any other time, he would've joked with her about how proud he was of her.
"I did what I had to," Alexis said. "Don't worry, they'll stop the recall and they'll keep printing Nikki Heat."
"Then why?"
"To draw your attention to what you were doing."
"What'm I doing?" he asked his daughter.
Alexis just looked at him, as if she expected him to figure out the answer without prompting.
"Seriously, why?"
"Dad," Alexis said, "Not everybody likes being turned into a character in your books."
"She has a point there," Martha said. "At least half of those people are holding a grudge - or worse - towards you, Richard."
Alexis didn't look like she was enjoying this, but looked like she was saying it because it needed to be said. "It's up to you, Dad," Alexis said. "Does Detective Beckett like being Nikki Heat?" And can you tell the difference between them?
Before Richard Castle could answer, Alexis turned away and headed for the stairs upstairs. "I've got to get up early to help tutor before homeroom tomorrow. Good night."
"Night," Martha told her. To her son, "Aren't you old enough yet that you don't have to live vicariously through your characters?" And Martha said, "Think it over. Beckett won't be the only one to thank you," and headed to her room.
And so Castle was left alone in the kitchen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the next morning
"Beckett," Montgomery said, summoning her to his office.
"Sir?" Beckett asked when she got to the door of his office.
In answer, he pointed to the tv screen.
Kate looked at the news station it was turned to, wondering why a red calf being born in Kandahar was signifigant...and then she read what was scrolling across the information bar at the bottom of the screen: HYPERION announces they will begin purchasing all copies of best-seller HEAT WAVE from all who have a copy of the book. Author Richard Castle personally extends his apologies. "No HEAT sequels will hit shelves," publicist says.
"Wow," Ryan says, him and Esposito having joined her at the doorway.
Only then did Beckett realize her jaw had dropped at some point. Closing it, she looked at her boss, hoping he had an explanation.
"Now you know all I know," was what Montgomery said.
"Castle?" Beckett asked.
"And owning it," Castle said, coming down the hallway. The boys made room for him to go in the office, but he shook his head. To all four officers of the law, Castle said, "Just came in to let you all know I'm not going to be following you around on cases any more. And before you ask, I'll make sure none of the fallout lands anywhere near you," he told the four.
"You're leaving?" Beckett asked.
"Well I was hoping to ask you to dinner."
"Um...tomorrow?" she said, not entirely surprised at how easily Castle could re-order the universe and still land on his feet.
Yes! "I'll see the rest of you around," he said before walking out.
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The End