"How The Story Ends"
A response to effie214 for the comment ficathon- it was too long, so I posted it here :)
This is completely un-beta-ed (but will probably be beta-ed later!) and was written completely spur of the moment. I apologize for any mistakes- the words were just flying off the page for me.
She walks into the release party with her heart thumping wildly; half excitement, half dread.
It's the last Nikki Heat book to be published. The character has had a good run, but after many reluctant meetings with his publisher and his book agent and a whole slew of other people Castle has working for him, the story arc has come to a close. The sequel to the highly grossing cinematic version of "Heat Wave" will be released in a few weeks, and then one more movie after that- a trilogy, Castle says, a real dramatic arc. He jokes that he should be nominated for an Oscar for his writing, and she laughs, though somewhat sadly. She is slowly realizing that this is the beginning of the end, the cliche be damned.
Soon, there will be nothing left for them to use as excuses for revolving around each other- he won't need more research, and she won't need him to solve crimes. It's almost over- technically. The past weeks have been a strenuous montage of over-analyzed body language and scuffling of feet- each one trying to read if the other is making a move, stepping outside their precious "Partners Only" box into unknown territory. Needless to say that they have both been consuming an obscene amount of coffee lately- delivered by the other, of course.
(Beckett secretly thinks that this whole thing is ridiculous, and she's getting desperate: she's practically on the verge of a "Do you like me? Check yes or no" type message- if only she could swallow her pride long enough to wait for a response.)
She and Castle have been working together for five years. He no longer has a reason to follow her around, and she no longer has a reason to let him. Now they are stuck, she realizes, at a crossroads (that cliche be damned, too).
And surprising, he didn't let her read this one last Nikki Heat book. After her reaction to Heat Wave being released to reporters before herself, he had been diligent about getting her an advanced copy- and was always eager to hear her responses (Even if they came in the form of angry yelling over the phone after she read a particularly memorable passage involving the death of a robbery detective in Naked Heat, her saying, "Schlemming?! Are you kidding me, Castle? You better hope he doesn't READ this...")
Castle has been surprisingly and uncharacteristically mum about the plot of his last book, only telling her to 'wait and see' after they had solved their last case together, handing her a cup of coffee, and seeing her frightened look- as if he was going to disappear at any second.
(Castle also thinks this wierd relationship that they have (from partners to mortal enemies if Beckett is angry to occasional life-savers to okay-I-totally-have-a-huge-crush-on-you-but-won't-say-anything-about-it) thing is ridiculous; but Beckett doesn't know that either. Luckily, he has a plan better than "Check yes or no".)
So Beckett walks into the last release party and almost catches her breath; the word 'last' has been coming up a lot in her vocabulary lately. She pushes the thought away and heads toward the center table, where all of his books are displayed, eager to get her hands on a copy (not that she's planning to flip to the end to read what happens, or anything like that).
She has the book in her hands and is about to spoil herself rotten by flipping to the end when Castle catches her, floating to her side, looking rather debonair in his black tux. She feels her heart beat wildly- what is up with her heart tonight, she thinks- and smiles at him genuinely.
"Hi," she breathes.
"Hey," he replies, equally breathless, "You look beautiful. And I see you've finally got your hands on the book."
"Yes, I do," she says, and catches his eyes, "The last one."
It is then that the reality of it all hits her, though it has been coming for days. This is it: this is the last of all lasts. Castle and she will no longer be anything- not partners, not writer and muse- not anything, anymore- and they don't even have ground to stand on outside in their "personal lives"- and she doesn't WANT him to go- she doesn't want anyone else to bring her coffee and she doesn't want anybody else to show up at her house in the middle of the night with wine and a promise, she doesn't want anyone else to hold her hand when they finally catch her mom's killer and she doesn't want anybody else to be with her when her dad relapses- she just wants HIM. And God damn it she loves him, she loves Castle, so much that it hurts- and those beautiful blue eyes are so sincere and so- she just trusts him in that moment so much, more than ever. And she wants to say something- but she can't- she just can't ...
She's the one who is "not the easiest person to get to know, and doesn't always say what's on her mind."
He's supposed to be the one who is good with words.
"How does it end?" she sputters, looking at him- no- begging him with her eyes to understand her meaning, far more than the end of the book, far more than just the fate of Nikki and Rook. She means it for them, she means it for everything between them. She needs to know.
He simply smiles. "See for yourself," he responds quietly, flipping to the last page.
She looks down at the page, realizing that he has not flipped to the end of the prose- because she sees no character names. She instead sees what looks like a dedication- though it is at the end of the book, not the beginning. She reads, noticing that he is watching her intently.
'Now that Heat and Rook have got their happy ending,' it reads, 'I thought I should start working on my own.'
'To the crime-solving, butt-kicking, cherry-scented KB: a detective who understands irony, who inspired these books because she is tall, who is larger than life, who will tell me the truth and keep me in line, who will always be a little part of my muse.
But, even more so...
To the extraordinary Kate Beckett, who is so much more than all of those things, so much more than a character in these novels: so much more real, so much more flawed, so much more beautiful and strong than I could ever write about.
I don't know how to tell you this beyond saying that "the heart wants what the heart wants," but I'll do my best.'
Kate glanced at him, the tears in her eyes beginning to fall over as her breath hitched in her throat. The room had gone quiet around them. "Castle-" she whispered brokenly- and yet, she was never more whole.
"There's more," he whispered, his own voice breaking and conveying the indescribable burning emotion behind his eyes.
She let her eyes slowly fall on the last line of the page.
'I love you.'
And that was it- the dam broke. She turned and fell- or more or less was catapulted- into his arms- and she was crying in public- and oh my gosh was she breathing still- and then she pulled back to see him breaking down a bit too- and it was all too much- far too much - but it was so right, and she was so happy.
She looked into his eyes and noticed a questioning look there- and suddenly realized she hadn't responded.
With a watery chuckle, she asked, "What took you so long?"
And then their lips met.
This is completely un-beta-ed (but will probably be beta-ed later!) and was written completely spur of the moment. I apologize for any mistakes- the words were just flying off the page for me.
She walks into the release party with her heart thumping wildly; half excitement, half dread.
It's the last Nikki Heat book to be published. The character has had a good run, but after many reluctant meetings with his publisher and his book agent and a whole slew of other people Castle has working for him, the story arc has come to a close. The sequel to the highly grossing cinematic version of "Heat Wave" will be released in a few weeks, and then one more movie after that- a trilogy, Castle says, a real dramatic arc. He jokes that he should be nominated for an Oscar for his writing, and she laughs, though somewhat sadly. She is slowly realizing that this is the beginning of the end, the cliche be damned.
Soon, there will be nothing left for them to use as excuses for revolving around each other- he won't need more research, and she won't need him to solve crimes. It's almost over- technically. The past weeks have been a strenuous montage of over-analyzed body language and scuffling of feet- each one trying to read if the other is making a move, stepping outside their precious "Partners Only" box into unknown territory. Needless to say that they have both been consuming an obscene amount of coffee lately- delivered by the other, of course.
(Beckett secretly thinks that this whole thing is ridiculous, and she's getting desperate: she's practically on the verge of a "Do you like me? Check yes or no" type message- if only she could swallow her pride long enough to wait for a response.)
She and Castle have been working together for five years. He no longer has a reason to follow her around, and she no longer has a reason to let him. Now they are stuck, she realizes, at a crossroads (that cliche be damned, too).
And surprising, he didn't let her read this one last Nikki Heat book. After her reaction to Heat Wave being released to reporters before herself, he had been diligent about getting her an advanced copy- and was always eager to hear her responses (Even if they came in the form of angry yelling over the phone after she read a particularly memorable passage involving the death of a robbery detective in Naked Heat, her saying, "Schlemming?! Are you kidding me, Castle? You better hope he doesn't READ this...")
Castle has been surprisingly and uncharacteristically mum about the plot of his last book, only telling her to 'wait and see' after they had solved their last case together, handing her a cup of coffee, and seeing her frightened look- as if he was going to disappear at any second.
(Castle also thinks this wierd relationship that they have (from partners to mortal enemies if Beckett is angry to occasional life-savers to okay-I-totally-have-a-huge-crush-on-you-but-won't-say-anything-about-it) thing is ridiculous; but Beckett doesn't know that either. Luckily, he has a plan better than "Check yes or no".)
So Beckett walks into the last release party and almost catches her breath; the word 'last' has been coming up a lot in her vocabulary lately. She pushes the thought away and heads toward the center table, where all of his books are displayed, eager to get her hands on a copy (not that she's planning to flip to the end to read what happens, or anything like that).
She has the book in her hands and is about to spoil herself rotten by flipping to the end when Castle catches her, floating to her side, looking rather debonair in his black tux. She feels her heart beat wildly- what is up with her heart tonight, she thinks- and smiles at him genuinely.
"Hi," she breathes.
"Hey," he replies, equally breathless, "You look beautiful. And I see you've finally got your hands on the book."
"Yes, I do," she says, and catches his eyes, "The last one."
It is then that the reality of it all hits her, though it has been coming for days. This is it: this is the last of all lasts. Castle and she will no longer be anything- not partners, not writer and muse- not anything, anymore- and they don't even have ground to stand on outside in their "personal lives"- and she doesn't WANT him to go- she doesn't want anyone else to bring her coffee and she doesn't want anybody else to show up at her house in the middle of the night with wine and a promise, she doesn't want anyone else to hold her hand when they finally catch her mom's killer and she doesn't want anybody else to be with her when her dad relapses- she just wants HIM. And God damn it she loves him, she loves Castle, so much that it hurts- and those beautiful blue eyes are so sincere and so- she just trusts him in that moment so much, more than ever. And she wants to say something- but she can't- she just can't ...
She's the one who is "not the easiest person to get to know, and doesn't always say what's on her mind."
He's supposed to be the one who is good with words.
"How does it end?" she sputters, looking at him- no- begging him with her eyes to understand her meaning, far more than the end of the book, far more than just the fate of Nikki and Rook. She means it for them, she means it for everything between them. She needs to know.
He simply smiles. "See for yourself," he responds quietly, flipping to the last page.
She looks down at the page, realizing that he has not flipped to the end of the prose- because she sees no character names. She instead sees what looks like a dedication- though it is at the end of the book, not the beginning. She reads, noticing that he is watching her intently.
'Now that Heat and Rook have got their happy ending,' it reads, 'I thought I should start working on my own.'
'To the crime-solving, butt-kicking, cherry-scented KB: a detective who understands irony, who inspired these books because she is tall, who is larger than life, who will tell me the truth and keep me in line, who will always be a little part of my muse.
But, even more so...
To the extraordinary Kate Beckett, who is so much more than all of those things, so much more than a character in these novels: so much more real, so much more flawed, so much more beautiful and strong than I could ever write about.
I don't know how to tell you this beyond saying that "the heart wants what the heart wants," but I'll do my best.'
Kate glanced at him, the tears in her eyes beginning to fall over as her breath hitched in her throat. The room had gone quiet around them. "Castle-" she whispered brokenly- and yet, she was never more whole.
"There's more," he whispered, his own voice breaking and conveying the indescribable burning emotion behind his eyes.
She let her eyes slowly fall on the last line of the page.
'I love you.'
And that was it- the dam broke. She turned and fell- or more or less was catapulted- into his arms- and she was crying in public- and oh my gosh was she breathing still- and then she pulled back to see him breaking down a bit too- and it was all too much- far too much - but it was so right, and she was so happy.
She looked into his eyes and noticed a questioning look there- and suddenly realized she hadn't responded.
With a watery chuckle, she asked, "What took you so long?"
And then their lips met.