The Souvenir

After a week without her morning coffee, Kate couldn't help the smile that filled her face
and lit her eyes as a familiar arm appeared placing a sixteen ounce paper cup with
plastic lid onto the desk in front of her. Wrapping her hands around its radiating warmth,
she closed her eyes and inhaled. The smell evoked memories of him more than it did of
the rich brown liquid contained inside. She was shocked when she suddenly realized...
It wasn't about the coffee anymore. Her eyes flew open to dispel the images that swirled
in her head. She cut a quick glance to her left and regretted it, the sight of him smiling
back at her caused her face to flush and her mouth to go dry. She sought relief in the
cup, but only succeeded in scalding the roof of her mouth when she tried chugging it
instead of sipping. Her hand flew to her mouth and she coughed to hide the pain she
was in.

"Miss my coffee detective?"

She noticed that his smile had migrated to his eyes and…did they just twinkle? She had to
have imagined that. People's eyes don't really twinkle. They might in cheesy movies or
cartoons, but not in real life! What the hell was wrong with her? It's only coffee for christ's sake!

"No," was all she was able to coherently spit out as she tried to cover her hesitation to reply.

"You clones should really work on getting the mannerisms down before you replace people, it's
a dead give away."

"What?"

"See, there you go again. Kate Beckett does not speak in monosyllabic grunts."

"How was the book tour?" She asked, trying to put the conversation into something more normal.

"And…she's back. It was good. I only got writers cramp once." He flexed his hand. "But I recovered."

She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Yep, she's definitely back."

"I definitely missed these stimulating conversations more than I missed your coffee." Her equilibrium
returned as her sarcasm began to flow.

"Touché." He saluted her with his coffee cup and she did the same. "So, working on anything interesting?"

"We caught a strange one last night that you're gonna love. Our vic was found in an alley behind an
abandoned warehouse wearing nothing more than a kilt, and a replica of a 17th century claymore was
found lying next to the body."

"No way."

"We still don't have an Id on the vic yet, probably won't…at least not till we find his head."

"No way! That's so…that's so…so…" He was about to bust.

"Go ahead Castle, you can say it."

"That's so Highlander!"

"For once, I can actually say you're right."

"I am?"

"It seems a lot of the abandoned warehouses in the city are used for LARPing and we've found a web
site for three Highlander clans in the area that participate. You know what LARPing is, right?"

"Yeah, Live Action Role Playing. I didn't know there was a group for Highlander." He sat back into his
chair and began talking more to himself than to her. "That sounds so cool…and I already have the kilt…"

"You have a kilt?"

Huh…oh, yeah. I've had one for years. I wore it to a couple of book signings." An uncontrollable grin
spread across his face. "You wouldn't believe how many women…" He stopped short before he put all of
his foot into his mouth. "…uh, how many women said I had nice legs."

"Uh huh."

"Why did I ever stop wearing it? Oh, yeah…it caused a cat fight."

"What, two women fought over you?"

"Yeah, is it so hard to believe?"

"Go on."

"I was mingling with the crowd after a book signing and I started talking with this beautiful brunette
when another woman interrupted us. The brunette took offense and an argument began. The argument
quickly turned into a shouting match and then the fight ensued. I was banned from Boarders for a year
because of that incident."

"Because two women got into it? How was that your fault?"

"Well…the two women soon turned into about ten women and the lobby of the store kinda got trashed,
and then the cops showed up…and well…"

Kate had a hard time suppressing her laugh so she reached for her coffee to give her mouth something
else to do. Laughter suppressed, she brought the conversation back to the case.

"Can you go grab Ryan and Esposito out of the break room, we need to divide up the clans and get
started on tracking down the members."

"Sure." He made a move to get up but then sat back down. "Oh, I almost forgot."

He reached into his jacket pocket, removed a small bag and set it on her desk.

Kate leaned back into her chair and eyed the brown bag.

"What am I Castle, seven? You don't have to bring me something back every time you go on a trip."

"I know, but when I saw this I thought of you, so I had to get it."

She stifled another smile as her hand reached for the bag. She opened it and pulled out a small tacky
souvenir. It was a pink plastic dolphin mounted on a seashell stand with the word TENNESSEE stenciled
across the body of the dolphin.

The confusion on her face spoke louder than her words. "I don't get it?"

"Neither do I!" He leaned forward as the explanation ensued. "There I was, killing time, browsing the souvenir
shop at the Memphis international Airport, it's a landlocked state I might add, and there it was. I expected the
country music images and the Elvis figurines; but a pink dolphin? It's a mystery that begs to be solved!"

She just snorted and Castle smiled as she placed the dolphin next to her nesting dolls. These 'unwanted trinkets'
he'd given her over the years were now covering nearly a third of her desk.