Castle Fic: 30 Days of Literary Abandon
title: 30 Days of Literary Abandon
author: crumpled_up
disclaimer: Castle belongs to Andrew Marlowe and ABC. No profit is made from this, only love and flail.
rating: PG
word count: ~3300
characters/pairing: Castle, Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, Alexis, Martha
spoilers: none.
summary: Castle participates in NaNoWriMo.
A/N: This was a prompt given to me by amaliak after I had won NaNoWriMo this year. This is for her and her reward for cheerleading me through the crucial moments of this daunting task. If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, check this out. Participate! It's exhausting but it's fun. This is also my first Castle fic. All comments and concrit are welcome. Enjoy!
30 Days of Literary Abandon
Day 1
"What's got you so perky today?" Beckett asks, taking the offered cup of coffee from Castle as they both walk toward the yellow tape.
"I am about to embark on the greatest journey known to mankind. It will change the course of history and the literary world as we know it."
"Really?" she responds dryly. "What, you're writing the next Nikki Heat novel?"
"No. I am going on an adventure that no man has ever gone on before. It'll be like following the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City. Except I won't have little munchkins following me. Or maybe I will... I do have a lot of followers on Twitter."
"You're going to see the man behind the curtain?"
Castle gasps. "Don't say that! You'll ruin the surprise!"
"What is this epic journey, Castle?"
He smiles. "Ah, now that is a good phrase. Epic journey. That's exactly what it is."
"Are you going to spit it out anytime soon?"
"30 Days of Literary Abandon," Castle replies dramatically.
"That's your next greatest novel? I mean, epic journey?"
"NaNoWriMo."
"Okay, now you're confusing me. Is that another one of those Chinese phrases you picked up off a tv show?"
"What? No! NaNoWriMo! Come on, you must know what that is. Everyone knows what that is."
"Um, no."
He looks at her dumbfounded. "NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month," he recites, waving his arms. "It's the most epic thing around. Thousands and thousands of people around the world participate and join together to write all month long in November. You sign up online and once November 1st hits, you get writing."
"Sounds like a nightmare."
"No no no. Not at all. It's quite fun. There are message boards to help you out. You can update your word count and have word wars and word sprints to up the count."
"Word wars? That sounds dangerous."
"Oh, it's nothing like that. You just compete against friends to see who writes the most words in a set time limit."
"Okay, so you write for thirty days. And then... what?"
"There's a word limit. The goal is to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month and have a rough draft of a novel. You can go over, of course, but 50k in a month is daunting enough."
"Ah, okay. I think I get it. 30 days of nonstop writing in November. Goal is 50k."
"Pretty much."
"Will I see you at all this month?"
"Probably not."
She smiles and takes a sip of her coffee. "I love this NaNoWriMo already."
"You don't have to sound so happy about it." Castle pouts.
Day 5
"So, how's it goin', bro?" Esposito asks, looking over Castle's shoulder. "Heard about your little NaNoWhateverCrap-o from Beckett."
Castle scrambles to cover his little notebook, hunching over the edge of Beckett's desk. "None of your business."
"Aw, c'mon, man. Can you at least tell me what it's about?"
"Nope. Top secret."
"Is it the next Nikki Heat?" Esposito nudges him in the shoulder. "C'mon, you can tell me that much."
"Nope."
"I think," Beckett says as she takes her seat, "Castle has no idea what he's writing."
He looks offended. "Not true."
"Then why can't you say what you're writing?"
"Yeah, bro. What's up with the cloak and dagger routine huh?"
Castle stuffs his notebook into his inner coat pocket and clicks his pen off. "Nope. Not saying a word." Then he stands up and looks his two friends. "I have a date with my computer. Serious writing stuff to take care of and all that."
"Right. Off saving the world one word at a time."
"You bet."
Day 10
"Oh my God. I've been Week Two'd."
"Huh?" Ryan asks, looking up from his notepad, waving a hand in front of Castle's face. "You okay?"
"Just leave him, Ryan," Beckett says. "He's been saying that for the past few days. He's in his weird writer funk or whatever."
"More like a catatonic state." Ryan continues to wave his hand in front of Castle and make funny faces.
Castle blinks and then pushes Ryan away. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"Other than you making funny faces? You look like a monkey by the way."
"Hey! I do not. I resent that."
"No, you resemble it."
"Oh yeah? You look like--"
"Boys, will you focus, please? We have a dead body here." Beckett points up to a man slumped over the railing of the second story. "Remember him?"
"Oh my God. I've been Week Two'd."
Ryan and Beckett sigh.
Day 16
Beckett places an extra large cup of coffee down in front of Castle along with a white paper bag. "Yesterday was the half way point. How's it going?"
Castle looks up from his notebook with bags under his eyes surrounded by dark circles. "Terrible. I'm supposed to be at 25k. Well, now I'm supposed to be at 26,667 since it's a new day. I'm only at..." he trails off, mumbling.
She grins. "What was that, Castle? You need to speak up."
"20k... I'm only a couple hundred away from 21k." He hangs his head. "This is hopeless. Why did I do this?"
She pushes the paper bag closer to him. "Maybe you'll find motivation in here."
He reluctantly grabs the bag and opens it. Immediately, his face lights up and a smile appears on his face. "Ooh! Donuts! Glazed. Sprinkles? A bear claw?" He rummages in the bag then pulls something out with flourish. "And a cinnamon roll? Beckett, you shouldn't have."
She shrugs. "You look like you've been starving yourself. Plus, I hear it's good brain food." She gestures to the boys across the room at their desks. "It was their idea."
Castle turns around in his chair, waving enthusiastically, roll in his mouth. "Fanks! Oo gus ruf."
Ryan and Esposito wave back half-heartedly, disgusted looks on their faces.
"Um, Castle." Beckett taps him on the shoulder. "You kinda," she circles her mouth with finger.
"Oh!" He spits out the roll and swallows. "Oops. Thanks guys! You rule."
The boys give him a thumbs up and genuine smiles.
He turns back to Beckett like an eager little boy. "Seriously, this is the nicest thing you guys have ever--" He stuffs the roll back into his mouth, picks up his pen, and begins writing furiously in his notebook.
Beckett stares at him, then shakes her head fondly.
Day 23
"What are you doing here?" Beckett asks as she takes off her coat and hangs it on the back of her chair before sitting down. "I thought you were doing your self-imposed house arrest for the last week?"
Castle slumps in his seat, frowning. "Apparently I've been such a nuisance the last couple days, I was voted off the island. Or in this case, kicked out of my own home."
"I find that hard to believe. Martha and Alexis? Really?"
"Alexis has exams coming up. Mother was just using that as an excuse to stop listening to my muttering and yelling at the computer."
She tries to stifle her chuckle but fails miserably. "You're one of those?"
"It's not my fault my word counter is telling me I only have 30k when I swear I have around 32k."
"Have you tried other word counters?"
He nods. "Yeah, but they're no better. Some give me less than 30. I mean, come on! I know I've been writing."
"Shouldn't this be easy for you? You're a writer. You're always spouting off some kind of crazy scenario in the most dramatic way possible. Those are at least 500 words."
"1000 if it's really good."
She rolls her eyes. "Whatever. Point is, with your flair, you should be doing this easily."
"You'd think." He rests his chin on his propped hand. "But usually I have months and months to crank out 75k or 85k. 50 in a month is torture."
"So are you going to torture me now that you've been evicted?"
"Why, Detective Beckett, do I sense some sort of proposition in that question?" He leers.
"Now I see why they kicked you out." She takes a stack of files from one side of her desk and dumps them on Castle's side. "If you're going to stay here, you're going to make yourself useful. Read through these."
He leans back and measures it with the width of his hand. "These are like a foot tall."
"I know."
"I have 20k left to write!" he whines. "And no home. They didn't even let me take my laptop. Apparently it was distracting me, so Alexis took it away. Writing by hand takes so long."
"I can't help you with that."
"Let's grab a bite. Remy's sound good? I think the shakes there will help me. And burgers."
She raises an eyebrow. "And they'll magically inspire you?"
"Oh, you bet. You have no idea what I can do after eating one of those fantastic burgers. And fries. Gotta have those bottomless fries."
Beckett closes her file and rises from her desk. "Okay. Sold. Those fries are to die for." She grabs her jacket and slips it on. "But you're paying."
"Deal."
"Come on, you stray mutt."
Castle smiles and scrambles after her. "Woof."
Day 25
"What's with the frown, dude?" Esposito asks as he comes around the desk to see what Castle's looking at on Beckett's computer screen. "There somethin' wrong? Did we miss something?"
"Huh? Oh no. Just looking at my dismal word count."
"36k. Not bad."
"No, you don't understand. I need to write another 15k in the next five days to win."
Esposito winces. "Yeah, never mind. That's... yeah. Well, you're the writer. Good luck with that." He claps him on the shoulder.
"Is that porn?" Ryan asks as he enters the bullpen. "On Beckett's comp? Lemme see." He joins the other two men and then frowns. "You guys are staring at a graph of Castle's word count. Wow."
Castle looks over his shoulder at Ryan with a small glare. "Hey, those were very hard words to write."
"Oh, I'm sure," Beckett says from behind the men. "Now, can I have my computer back?"
"I thought they were looking at porn," Ryan says, disappointed. "Some porn."
Beckett fights a sigh. "Back to work, guys." She pulls Esposito and Ryan away and shoves them towards their own desks. "Go." Then she looks down at Castle, hands on her hips.
"Look at all my writing buddies. They're all at 40k or higher. Some have even won already." He points at the purple winner bar.
"What do you get if you win? Is there some kind of cash prize?"
"No. You get a little sign that says you win and some nifty web badges to post where ever you want declaring you a winner."
"That's it?"
"And a certificate."
"Really. You're doing this for a piece of paper and a picture?"
"No." He points at the winner bar again. "And for that. It stays blue while you're writing, then it turns green when you go over 50k. When you verify your word count you get a purple one."
"How impressive." She looks at him pointedly, tapping her foot.
"Right." He moves out of her seat and into his. "It really is cool. It's all about the self-satisfaction that you did the impossible."
"It's not impossible if there are so many that complete the challenge."
Castle makes a frustrated sound. "No! It's like... when you solve a really tough case. That elation and sense of accomplishment. It's an epic journey remember? It's like finishing the end of a mystery novel, like my books. Or realizing that the person you thought was the killer really isn't."
"Uh huh."
"You're not even paying attention to me, are you?"
"Nope."
He sighs. "Thought so."
Day 28
"Castle," Beckett says, kneeling in front of him, trying to look into his eyes. "Are you sure you're all right? Do I need to call a doctor?"
He shakes his head.
"What's up with him?" Ryan says, kneeling beside Beckett. "Whoa, you don't look so good, man."
"Yeah, bro. You look like shit." Esposito shrugs. "It's true."
"C'mon, Castle. Say something."
"Five. Need five more."
"Five more what? Castle."
"Five more... burgers?" Ryan suggests and receives a thwap in the arm from Esposito. "Five more cups of coffee?"
"No, dude. He obviously needs five more shots of espresso or some kind of direct line of caffeine."
"Like an IV?"
"Yeah, like that!" Esposito high fives Ryan with a grin. "Good job."
"No." Beckett grabs Castle's chin and forces him to look at her. "Castle. Tell me what you need."
"Five. Five thousand more..."
She lets go and huffs. "Really, Castle? You had us all worried."
"Wait, what?" Ryan looks between Beckett and Castle. "Did I miss something?"
"Words. He needs to write five thousand more words in the next two days." She stands up and brushes her pants. "He'll be fine, guys. Go back to work. I want all info on the sister on my desk or in my hand in the next hour." They nod and hurry off to their desks, phones in hand. She pushes her hair aside and sighs. "God, I can't wait for this month to be over."
Day 30
"Has he been like this all day?" Beckett asks, staring at Castle pacing up and down beside the couch.
Alexis nods. "Yep. He'll pace, then sit down, stare at his screen, then get up and pace some more. I've lost count how many times he's done this. But he needs to sit in that same corner of the couch every time. He claims that it's his Creative Corner."
"All day," Martha chimes in, coming up behind the two women, handing Beckett a glass of wine. "He's a nutcase on the last day every time."
Beckett nods her thanks and takes a sip. "How often does he do this?"
"Almost every year," Alexis replies. "He hasn't done it in the past couple years when he started working with you. Says he's been too busy, but I think he was just chickening out." She glances down at her homework and scribbles something. "He used to do it to try and break his writing block for Derek Storm. It worked for the most part, but he'd end up scrapping it in the end and starting over."
"Ouch. Seems like a waste of time."
"He swears it isn't." Martha rolls her eyes. "But that's Richard for you. He'll try it just because everyone else is. But if he's encouraging people to write and read, I guess it can't be a bad thing."
They watch as Castle finally sits down and types furiously.
"So how's school going, Alexis?" Beckett asks as she sits down beside the young woman. "Your dad mentioned you had exams?"
"Oh yeah. I had this really hard Calculus test that I think I didn't do very well on, but I'm glad it's over." She points to her text book. "Now I have a Physics exam tomorrow. I'm not sure how I can concentrate with--"
"Yes!" Castle yells, arms raised in triumph. "I did it! 50k, baby. Take that." He points his fingers in the shape of a gun at the laptop and fires, then blows the imaginary smoke with a satisfied smirk.
"Oh dear," Martha remarks. "Here we go. The gloating session." She grabs the wine bottle and refills hers and Beckett's. "You'll need it, dear. I promise."
"Did you verify it, Dad?" Alexis asks cheerfully as she makes her way over to him.
"I'm trying. Hold on a sec." He makes a few more clicks then looks up proudly. "Verifying right now. The site's slow though." He pauses then rubs his eyes. "Beckett? What are you doing here?"
"It's the final day. You think I wanna miss this?"
"How long have you been here?"
"About an hour now, Richard," Martha replies. "You've been so busy writing your last two thousand words you didn't even notice the doorbell."
Castle looks down at his watch. "It's 10pm already? When did that happen?"
"Oh, look, Dad!" Alexis points at the screen. "I think you won."
He bends down to get a better look and then pumps his fists in the air. "Yes! Who's the man now? Who's the Writer King? I'm a Winner! With a capital W." He pulls Alexis into a tight hug and then dances with her around the room.
"It'll only get worse from here," Martha mutters to Beckett. "You better make your escape now." She points to the door with her wine glass. "I'm serious."
Beckett smiles and shakes her head. "Not yet. Castle! I want proof."
He waves her over and presents the laptop screen dramatically. "Take a look, take a gander. Bow down to the Writer King for he hath conquered and slain the NaNoWriMo dragon once again." He bows with flourish.
She rolls her eyes and checks the screen. There's a banner that declares him an official winner. "Hey, I thought you get a certificate?"
"Ah, yes." He clicks a link at the bottom of the page and there's a video of the staff congratulating him on his success and a batch of web badges underneath that. "Look away. I don't want to spoil it for you."
"What?"
Alexis takes Beckett's arm in hers and steers her back to the kitchen. "It's his ritual. He has to fill out the certificate and print it. Then he'll show it off. He even refuses to talk about what he's writing about."
"I thought he scraps it in the end?"
"But he keeps the title usually. He's made a couple changes one time, but he usually sticks with the same title."
"Ah, okay. So this might be the new Nikki Heat title?"
"Could be."
"Aha!" Castle announces, coming into the kitchen with a piece of paper in his hand. "Behold, the next work of art by yours truly."
The three women gather around and stare at the certificate.
"Really, darling?" Martha asks dryly, then gulps down her wine. "That's..."
"Quite interesting," Alexis finishes. "To put it mildly."
"The Adventures of Steve the Stick Figure and His Pet Monkey Pip," Beckett reads. "Really, Castle? This is your next Number One Bestseller?"
He takes the certificate back and holds it to his chest protectively. "It's hard living in 2D. And look," he points to the screen at the web badge that has a cartoon monkey on it. "See, it could be Pip!"
"You really weren't writing the next Nikki Heat novel at all, were you?"
"Nope. Do you think it's really that bad?"
Martha pats him on the arm. "It might sell for a children's book, dear."
"Or maybe the teen section?" Alexis suggests with a doubtful smile.
"Beckett? Come on. Be honest."
"Honestly, Castle, that sounds absolutely ridiculous." All three of them stare at her and she backs away slowly. "Or you know, it... could be a picture book? Or a web comic? I think that's what Ryan and Esposito read."
Castle smiles, bright but exhausted. "That's a great idea! I'll have to run it by Paula," he mutters turning away. "I wonder what she'll think. A web comic would be good. It could go viral..."
Beckett heaves a relieved sigh. "Wow."
"You did a fine job," Martha compliments, resting her hand on Beckett's shoulder. "He really values your opinion, you know. More than mine, that's for sure."
Beckett smiles. "Yeah, well. He's an interesting guy. And his input has come in handy more times than I can count." She quickly turns to Martha. "Don't tell him I said that."
The older woman smiles warmly. "Your secret is safe with me, dear. Now, let's go break out the champagne. That's the best part about winning these things."
"Don't mind if I do."
author: crumpled_up
disclaimer: Castle belongs to Andrew Marlowe and ABC. No profit is made from this, only love and flail.
rating: PG
word count: ~3300
characters/pairing: Castle, Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, Alexis, Martha
spoilers: none.
summary: Castle participates in NaNoWriMo.
A/N: This was a prompt given to me by amaliak after I had won NaNoWriMo this year. This is for her and her reward for cheerleading me through the crucial moments of this daunting task. If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, check this out. Participate! It's exhausting but it's fun. This is also my first Castle fic. All comments and concrit are welcome. Enjoy!
30 Days of Literary Abandon
Day 1
"What's got you so perky today?" Beckett asks, taking the offered cup of coffee from Castle as they both walk toward the yellow tape.
"I am about to embark on the greatest journey known to mankind. It will change the course of history and the literary world as we know it."
"Really?" she responds dryly. "What, you're writing the next Nikki Heat novel?"
"No. I am going on an adventure that no man has ever gone on before. It'll be like following the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City. Except I won't have little munchkins following me. Or maybe I will... I do have a lot of followers on Twitter."
"You're going to see the man behind the curtain?"
Castle gasps. "Don't say that! You'll ruin the surprise!"
"What is this epic journey, Castle?"
He smiles. "Ah, now that is a good phrase. Epic journey. That's exactly what it is."
"Are you going to spit it out anytime soon?"
"30 Days of Literary Abandon," Castle replies dramatically.
"That's your next greatest novel? I mean, epic journey?"
"NaNoWriMo."
"Okay, now you're confusing me. Is that another one of those Chinese phrases you picked up off a tv show?"
"What? No! NaNoWriMo! Come on, you must know what that is. Everyone knows what that is."
"Um, no."
He looks at her dumbfounded. "NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month," he recites, waving his arms. "It's the most epic thing around. Thousands and thousands of people around the world participate and join together to write all month long in November. You sign up online and once November 1st hits, you get writing."
"Sounds like a nightmare."
"No no no. Not at all. It's quite fun. There are message boards to help you out. You can update your word count and have word wars and word sprints to up the count."
"Word wars? That sounds dangerous."
"Oh, it's nothing like that. You just compete against friends to see who writes the most words in a set time limit."
"Okay, so you write for thirty days. And then... what?"
"There's a word limit. The goal is to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month and have a rough draft of a novel. You can go over, of course, but 50k in a month is daunting enough."
"Ah, okay. I think I get it. 30 days of nonstop writing in November. Goal is 50k."
"Pretty much."
"Will I see you at all this month?"
"Probably not."
She smiles and takes a sip of her coffee. "I love this NaNoWriMo already."
"You don't have to sound so happy about it." Castle pouts.
Day 5
"So, how's it goin', bro?" Esposito asks, looking over Castle's shoulder. "Heard about your little NaNoWhateverCrap-o from Beckett."
Castle scrambles to cover his little notebook, hunching over the edge of Beckett's desk. "None of your business."
"Aw, c'mon, man. Can you at least tell me what it's about?"
"Nope. Top secret."
"Is it the next Nikki Heat?" Esposito nudges him in the shoulder. "C'mon, you can tell me that much."
"Nope."
"I think," Beckett says as she takes her seat, "Castle has no idea what he's writing."
He looks offended. "Not true."
"Then why can't you say what you're writing?"
"Yeah, bro. What's up with the cloak and dagger routine huh?"
Castle stuffs his notebook into his inner coat pocket and clicks his pen off. "Nope. Not saying a word." Then he stands up and looks his two friends. "I have a date with my computer. Serious writing stuff to take care of and all that."
"Right. Off saving the world one word at a time."
"You bet."
Day 10
"Oh my God. I've been Week Two'd."
"Huh?" Ryan asks, looking up from his notepad, waving a hand in front of Castle's face. "You okay?"
"Just leave him, Ryan," Beckett says. "He's been saying that for the past few days. He's in his weird writer funk or whatever."
"More like a catatonic state." Ryan continues to wave his hand in front of Castle and make funny faces.
Castle blinks and then pushes Ryan away. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"Other than you making funny faces? You look like a monkey by the way."
"Hey! I do not. I resent that."
"No, you resemble it."
"Oh yeah? You look like--"
"Boys, will you focus, please? We have a dead body here." Beckett points up to a man slumped over the railing of the second story. "Remember him?"
"Oh my God. I've been Week Two'd."
Ryan and Beckett sigh.
Day 16
Beckett places an extra large cup of coffee down in front of Castle along with a white paper bag. "Yesterday was the half way point. How's it going?"
Castle looks up from his notebook with bags under his eyes surrounded by dark circles. "Terrible. I'm supposed to be at 25k. Well, now I'm supposed to be at 26,667 since it's a new day. I'm only at..." he trails off, mumbling.
She grins. "What was that, Castle? You need to speak up."
"20k... I'm only a couple hundred away from 21k." He hangs his head. "This is hopeless. Why did I do this?"
She pushes the paper bag closer to him. "Maybe you'll find motivation in here."
He reluctantly grabs the bag and opens it. Immediately, his face lights up and a smile appears on his face. "Ooh! Donuts! Glazed. Sprinkles? A bear claw?" He rummages in the bag then pulls something out with flourish. "And a cinnamon roll? Beckett, you shouldn't have."
She shrugs. "You look like you've been starving yourself. Plus, I hear it's good brain food." She gestures to the boys across the room at their desks. "It was their idea."
Castle turns around in his chair, waving enthusiastically, roll in his mouth. "Fanks! Oo gus ruf."
Ryan and Esposito wave back half-heartedly, disgusted looks on their faces.
"Um, Castle." Beckett taps him on the shoulder. "You kinda," she circles her mouth with finger.
"Oh!" He spits out the roll and swallows. "Oops. Thanks guys! You rule."
The boys give him a thumbs up and genuine smiles.
He turns back to Beckett like an eager little boy. "Seriously, this is the nicest thing you guys have ever--" He stuffs the roll back into his mouth, picks up his pen, and begins writing furiously in his notebook.
Beckett stares at him, then shakes her head fondly.
Day 23
"What are you doing here?" Beckett asks as she takes off her coat and hangs it on the back of her chair before sitting down. "I thought you were doing your self-imposed house arrest for the last week?"
Castle slumps in his seat, frowning. "Apparently I've been such a nuisance the last couple days, I was voted off the island. Or in this case, kicked out of my own home."
"I find that hard to believe. Martha and Alexis? Really?"
"Alexis has exams coming up. Mother was just using that as an excuse to stop listening to my muttering and yelling at the computer."
She tries to stifle her chuckle but fails miserably. "You're one of those?"
"It's not my fault my word counter is telling me I only have 30k when I swear I have around 32k."
"Have you tried other word counters?"
He nods. "Yeah, but they're no better. Some give me less than 30. I mean, come on! I know I've been writing."
"Shouldn't this be easy for you? You're a writer. You're always spouting off some kind of crazy scenario in the most dramatic way possible. Those are at least 500 words."
"1000 if it's really good."
She rolls her eyes. "Whatever. Point is, with your flair, you should be doing this easily."
"You'd think." He rests his chin on his propped hand. "But usually I have months and months to crank out 75k or 85k. 50 in a month is torture."
"So are you going to torture me now that you've been evicted?"
"Why, Detective Beckett, do I sense some sort of proposition in that question?" He leers.
"Now I see why they kicked you out." She takes a stack of files from one side of her desk and dumps them on Castle's side. "If you're going to stay here, you're going to make yourself useful. Read through these."
He leans back and measures it with the width of his hand. "These are like a foot tall."
"I know."
"I have 20k left to write!" he whines. "And no home. They didn't even let me take my laptop. Apparently it was distracting me, so Alexis took it away. Writing by hand takes so long."
"I can't help you with that."
"Let's grab a bite. Remy's sound good? I think the shakes there will help me. And burgers."
She raises an eyebrow. "And they'll magically inspire you?"
"Oh, you bet. You have no idea what I can do after eating one of those fantastic burgers. And fries. Gotta have those bottomless fries."
Beckett closes her file and rises from her desk. "Okay. Sold. Those fries are to die for." She grabs her jacket and slips it on. "But you're paying."
"Deal."
"Come on, you stray mutt."
Castle smiles and scrambles after her. "Woof."
Day 25
"What's with the frown, dude?" Esposito asks as he comes around the desk to see what Castle's looking at on Beckett's computer screen. "There somethin' wrong? Did we miss something?"
"Huh? Oh no. Just looking at my dismal word count."
"36k. Not bad."
"No, you don't understand. I need to write another 15k in the next five days to win."
Esposito winces. "Yeah, never mind. That's... yeah. Well, you're the writer. Good luck with that." He claps him on the shoulder.
"Is that porn?" Ryan asks as he enters the bullpen. "On Beckett's comp? Lemme see." He joins the other two men and then frowns. "You guys are staring at a graph of Castle's word count. Wow."
Castle looks over his shoulder at Ryan with a small glare. "Hey, those were very hard words to write."
"Oh, I'm sure," Beckett says from behind the men. "Now, can I have my computer back?"
"I thought they were looking at porn," Ryan says, disappointed. "Some porn."
Beckett fights a sigh. "Back to work, guys." She pulls Esposito and Ryan away and shoves them towards their own desks. "Go." Then she looks down at Castle, hands on her hips.
"Look at all my writing buddies. They're all at 40k or higher. Some have even won already." He points at the purple winner bar.
"What do you get if you win? Is there some kind of cash prize?"
"No. You get a little sign that says you win and some nifty web badges to post where ever you want declaring you a winner."
"That's it?"
"And a certificate."
"Really. You're doing this for a piece of paper and a picture?"
"No." He points at the winner bar again. "And for that. It stays blue while you're writing, then it turns green when you go over 50k. When you verify your word count you get a purple one."
"How impressive." She looks at him pointedly, tapping her foot.
"Right." He moves out of her seat and into his. "It really is cool. It's all about the self-satisfaction that you did the impossible."
"It's not impossible if there are so many that complete the challenge."
Castle makes a frustrated sound. "No! It's like... when you solve a really tough case. That elation and sense of accomplishment. It's an epic journey remember? It's like finishing the end of a mystery novel, like my books. Or realizing that the person you thought was the killer really isn't."
"Uh huh."
"You're not even paying attention to me, are you?"
"Nope."
He sighs. "Thought so."
Day 28
"Castle," Beckett says, kneeling in front of him, trying to look into his eyes. "Are you sure you're all right? Do I need to call a doctor?"
He shakes his head.
"What's up with him?" Ryan says, kneeling beside Beckett. "Whoa, you don't look so good, man."
"Yeah, bro. You look like shit." Esposito shrugs. "It's true."
"C'mon, Castle. Say something."
"Five. Need five more."
"Five more what? Castle."
"Five more... burgers?" Ryan suggests and receives a thwap in the arm from Esposito. "Five more cups of coffee?"
"No, dude. He obviously needs five more shots of espresso or some kind of direct line of caffeine."
"Like an IV?"
"Yeah, like that!" Esposito high fives Ryan with a grin. "Good job."
"No." Beckett grabs Castle's chin and forces him to look at her. "Castle. Tell me what you need."
"Five. Five thousand more..."
She lets go and huffs. "Really, Castle? You had us all worried."
"Wait, what?" Ryan looks between Beckett and Castle. "Did I miss something?"
"Words. He needs to write five thousand more words in the next two days." She stands up and brushes her pants. "He'll be fine, guys. Go back to work. I want all info on the sister on my desk or in my hand in the next hour." They nod and hurry off to their desks, phones in hand. She pushes her hair aside and sighs. "God, I can't wait for this month to be over."
Day 30
"Has he been like this all day?" Beckett asks, staring at Castle pacing up and down beside the couch.
Alexis nods. "Yep. He'll pace, then sit down, stare at his screen, then get up and pace some more. I've lost count how many times he's done this. But he needs to sit in that same corner of the couch every time. He claims that it's his Creative Corner."
"All day," Martha chimes in, coming up behind the two women, handing Beckett a glass of wine. "He's a nutcase on the last day every time."
Beckett nods her thanks and takes a sip. "How often does he do this?"
"Almost every year," Alexis replies. "He hasn't done it in the past couple years when he started working with you. Says he's been too busy, but I think he was just chickening out." She glances down at her homework and scribbles something. "He used to do it to try and break his writing block for Derek Storm. It worked for the most part, but he'd end up scrapping it in the end and starting over."
"Ouch. Seems like a waste of time."
"He swears it isn't." Martha rolls her eyes. "But that's Richard for you. He'll try it just because everyone else is. But if he's encouraging people to write and read, I guess it can't be a bad thing."
They watch as Castle finally sits down and types furiously.
"So how's school going, Alexis?" Beckett asks as she sits down beside the young woman. "Your dad mentioned you had exams?"
"Oh yeah. I had this really hard Calculus test that I think I didn't do very well on, but I'm glad it's over." She points to her text book. "Now I have a Physics exam tomorrow. I'm not sure how I can concentrate with--"
"Yes!" Castle yells, arms raised in triumph. "I did it! 50k, baby. Take that." He points his fingers in the shape of a gun at the laptop and fires, then blows the imaginary smoke with a satisfied smirk.
"Oh dear," Martha remarks. "Here we go. The gloating session." She grabs the wine bottle and refills hers and Beckett's. "You'll need it, dear. I promise."
"Did you verify it, Dad?" Alexis asks cheerfully as she makes her way over to him.
"I'm trying. Hold on a sec." He makes a few more clicks then looks up proudly. "Verifying right now. The site's slow though." He pauses then rubs his eyes. "Beckett? What are you doing here?"
"It's the final day. You think I wanna miss this?"
"How long have you been here?"
"About an hour now, Richard," Martha replies. "You've been so busy writing your last two thousand words you didn't even notice the doorbell."
Castle looks down at his watch. "It's 10pm already? When did that happen?"
"Oh, look, Dad!" Alexis points at the screen. "I think you won."
He bends down to get a better look and then pumps his fists in the air. "Yes! Who's the man now? Who's the Writer King? I'm a Winner! With a capital W." He pulls Alexis into a tight hug and then dances with her around the room.
"It'll only get worse from here," Martha mutters to Beckett. "You better make your escape now." She points to the door with her wine glass. "I'm serious."
Beckett smiles and shakes her head. "Not yet. Castle! I want proof."
He waves her over and presents the laptop screen dramatically. "Take a look, take a gander. Bow down to the Writer King for he hath conquered and slain the NaNoWriMo dragon once again." He bows with flourish.
She rolls her eyes and checks the screen. There's a banner that declares him an official winner. "Hey, I thought you get a certificate?"
"Ah, yes." He clicks a link at the bottom of the page and there's a video of the staff congratulating him on his success and a batch of web badges underneath that. "Look away. I don't want to spoil it for you."
"What?"
Alexis takes Beckett's arm in hers and steers her back to the kitchen. "It's his ritual. He has to fill out the certificate and print it. Then he'll show it off. He even refuses to talk about what he's writing about."
"I thought he scraps it in the end?"
"But he keeps the title usually. He's made a couple changes one time, but he usually sticks with the same title."
"Ah, okay. So this might be the new Nikki Heat title?"
"Could be."
"Aha!" Castle announces, coming into the kitchen with a piece of paper in his hand. "Behold, the next work of art by yours truly."
The three women gather around and stare at the certificate.
"Really, darling?" Martha asks dryly, then gulps down her wine. "That's..."
"Quite interesting," Alexis finishes. "To put it mildly."
"The Adventures of Steve the Stick Figure and His Pet Monkey Pip," Beckett reads. "Really, Castle? This is your next Number One Bestseller?"
He takes the certificate back and holds it to his chest protectively. "It's hard living in 2D. And look," he points to the screen at the web badge that has a cartoon monkey on it. "See, it could be Pip!"
"You really weren't writing the next Nikki Heat novel at all, were you?"
"Nope. Do you think it's really that bad?"
Martha pats him on the arm. "It might sell for a children's book, dear."
"Or maybe the teen section?" Alexis suggests with a doubtful smile.
"Beckett? Come on. Be honest."
"Honestly, Castle, that sounds absolutely ridiculous." All three of them stare at her and she backs away slowly. "Or you know, it... could be a picture book? Or a web comic? I think that's what Ryan and Esposito read."
Castle smiles, bright but exhausted. "That's a great idea! I'll have to run it by Paula," he mutters turning away. "I wonder what she'll think. A web comic would be good. It could go viral..."
Beckett heaves a relieved sigh. "Wow."
"You did a fine job," Martha compliments, resting her hand on Beckett's shoulder. "He really values your opinion, you know. More than mine, that's for sure."
Beckett smiles. "Yeah, well. He's an interesting guy. And his input has come in handy more times than I can count." She quickly turns to Martha. "Don't tell him I said that."
The older woman smiles warmly. "Your secret is safe with me, dear. Now, let's go break out the champagne. That's the best part about winning these things."
"Don't mind if I do."