Turn About

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: How do I not own Castle? Let me count the ways. Rating: K Time: Somewhat AU.

Epilog

Kate Beckett hurried down the red carpet, trying not to look at all of the cameramen. When she heard someone yell, "Hey! It's Nikki Heat." She cringed mentally. She was not Nikki Heat and she never would be. She was sure there was to be no more Nikki Heat, anyway. Castle would stop writing about her and write about a certain British secret agent. She would become just one of the many people he knew. He'd get in touch with her if he needed something. If then.

She found herself in the middle of the book launch.

"You clean up nice, Detective." Roy Montgomery said.

"Thank you, sir."

"Castle is going to be glad to see you. Have you read the dedication?"

"No. What does it say?"

"Go see for yourself. Excuse me."

Kate went over to a table covered in copies of Heat Wave and opened a book. She read the dedication: To the extraordinary KB and all my friends at the 12th.

Oh my god. She thought. He thinks I'm extraordinary."

She turned around to look for Rick, but couldn't find him. Finally, she spotted the top of his head, behind a giant stack of his new books. As she got closer, she saw he was talking to dark haired woman. She walked towards them but stopped dead just on the other side of the books when she heard their conversation.

"Rick, be real. I worked my butt off getting you that deal. You always loved him, the women, the gadgets, the bizarre supervillains, the whole schtick. And now you want to throw it all away? Can't you just sleep with her and get her out of your system?"

"Paula, sleeping with her would not get her out of my system. The exact opposite."

"God! You care for her? You really care for her?"

Rick laughed. "I do, but to tell you the truth, I have no idea how she feels about me."

"There's still hope then?" Paula said.

Kate didn't wait to hear what Castle would say. She hurried back to the other stack of books and resumed looking at the dedication.

"Hey." Castle said, coming up behind her.

"Hey. I was just, uh, the dedication. Wow. Thank you."

"I meant it. You are extraordinary. Listen…"

"But not extraordinary enough to keep you writing Nikki Heat?" She interrupted

Castle is taken aback by the question. "Uh, about that…."

"You are going to write about that British spy, aren't you?"

Castle looked around as if looking for help. This is not how he thought the night would go." I may not. Probably won't." He blurted.

"Why not?"

Castle tried to play for time. Is Beckett mad at me for not leaving her to write about the spy or what? "It's been done to death. The original books, the books by other authors, the movies. I tried to come up with something new, you know. A different super villain, a different sexy lady with a bizarre but sexy name…."

"Like Nikki Heat. You had no trouble with that name."

Castle ignored that. "Everything I tried to write about, you know, just to see what it was like, seemed like a retread of an old movie plot, an old book, or worse yet, something out of Derrick Storm."

Kate finally took pity on him. "Castle, we need to talk. "She took his hand and pulled him down a hallway and to a small, empty office. She closed the door behind them.

"You want to write more Nikki Heat, don't you? You want to write about me."

"Beckett, I…." He got no further because Kate Beckett's tongue was in his mouth.

She broke the kiss. "I heard you talking to Paula. She's your agent, right?"

Castle could only nod.

"I've had a wall of sorts around my heart since my mom died. I've been afraid to let anyone get close to me for fear of the hurt if I lost them. Now, I want to change that. It won't be easy, you know that, Castle. You know what I'm like." Kate smiled at him and softened her voice. "This dress is so tight, that I wasn't able to wear anything under it. If you just pull down the zipper and…."

"No!" Castle said sharply. Then, seeing the hurt in her eyes, he went on. "Not here. Not like this. You mean too much to me for that."

"You want me to get the full Castle treatment? A meal at some five star restaurant, a night on the town, and then spectacular sex?"

"Exactly. It's less than you deserve. I'll never be able to give you all that you deserve."

She laughed. "We'll compromise. We'll have a night at the book launch, then spectacular sex at my place and then I'll cook breakfast for you."

"Do we have to go to the book launch?" He said, letting a bit of a whine into his voice.

Kate opened the door and stepped back out into the hallway. She looked over her shoulder at Castle. "Coming, Castle?"

Author's note:

I'm still working slowly, but surely, on the third part of After Much Ado About Murder, being the adventures of Sir Richard and Lady Katherine in Renaissance Italy. I'm more than halfway done, I think. However, I get ideas and add things and go back and change things, so I'm never quite sure of where I am in a story. But right now, Sir Richard is negotiating with a bandit lord. How does he get into these things?