Human Being

Companion/Reversal to "Being Human" (with an admittedly non-creative title!)

ONE

Forty-eight hours after the incident, Kate Beckett paced her apartment like a hungry animal staring at a juicy steak through the bars of a metal cage. The nauseating remnants of betrayal still pulsed through her veins; she could hardly stand it as there was nothing she hated more. The web of lies and deceit he had strung, while slightly different than betrayal, felt equally as bad. Perhaps the only thing that would claw at her more was the lack of conclusion to their relationship, but she decided she would need to find a way to live with that gaping hole, because there was absolutely no way she would ever agree to see him again.

Though she came across a fair amount of males her age in her line of work—a rarity given the sharp left turn the world had taken several decades earlier—the vast majority of them were criminals, so of course the first non-criminal human male in her age bracket she stumbled upon had to be one who was absolutely, utterly insane; that seemed fitting for her luck.

Though she told them to go away, the questions still bounced around inside her brain, tapping at the inside of her skull and demanding an answer. Why would he do this? What kind of person would think such an act was acceptable and not repugnant? Was he a psychopath? Did he have criminal aspirations or was he just plain crazy?

She spent her days (and sometimes her nights) as a police detective and thus by profession she was an answerer of questions. Who killed this person? Why had they done so? What was their motivation?

Her drive to seek out such answers was what made her such a good cop, such a good detective. She would hunt relentlessly, turning over every rock until the answers or, at the least, reasonable explanations could be found, but there was no reason in this. None. Which meant this case would be one added to her very short list of unsolved—not because the answers weren't there, but because she simply refused to look them in the eye; the remnants of dishonestly simply burned too much.

Almost two decades before Kate's birth the world had begun to change. An unknown virus attacked those with Y chromosomes without discrimination. No matter age, race, or health status men began to die one by one—often only days after coming down with symptoms of the still-mysterious illness that manifested a lot like the flu. First, there were several hundred deaths, then several thousand, then the numbers began to creep into the tens of thousands. What stumped scientists even further was that while women showed no symptoms, they seemed to be carriers of the plight, for the majority were not able to carry male babies to term.

Thorough research was conducted by many institutions, but the cause remained unknown. The disease seemed to strike in unpredictable cycles. Months would sometimes pass with no reported deaths, then out of nowhere several thousand would occur. By the time Kate was born only the world ration of women to men was around one thousand to one and it seemed to settle out at that point. As a sufficient supply of frozen sperm and embryos existed (thanks to modern medicine and research) the population of women was still able to grow at a rate nearly equal to that before the virus struck, which meant the world was not in imminent danger—yet.

As the years went on, society began to slowly adapt to the limited male presence. Women began to spread out into careers previously male-dominated. The improvements in robot technology also helped greatly, and when Kate was barely a toddler the first at-home male android hit the market designed to help women with not just companionship but household tasks. After the initial curiosity phase wore off, only about thirty or forty percent of households contained a male android.

For Kate, growing up in a female-dominated world seemed perfectly normal to her and she never had the want for male friends or male companionship simply because she'd never known a world in where those things were a possibility. After starting on the police force, her interest in males dwindled even further, for the majority she interacted with were criminals. As her friends pointed out: coming across men only when she arrested them had a tendency to taint her viewpoint, and she couldn't argue this completely, but she also didn't think it mattered very much.

Along with the drop in the male population, violent crime had dropped as well, thus Kate's time as a detective was spent much differently than predecessors even ten years her senior. Even though New York remained one of the most highly populated cities in the world, there was no longer a need for separate divisions of the NYPD to investigate homicides, robberies, or others specific sub-sets of crimes. Instead, a conglomerate Major Crimes division investigated any and all criminal activity, and Kate was all too happy to dedicate the better part of her life to making her city a safer place for everyone even if the dedicated life she lived was a rather lonely one.

On her thirtieth birthday, her father presented her with a most unexpected gift: a male android named Rick. He was tall, had sparkling blue eyes, and was handsome, though in a rougher, rugged sort of way. A mixture of shocked and annoyed, Kate thanked him for the gesture, but then immediately asked her father to return Rick to whatever store he was purchased from. The elder man, a lawyer by trade, presented a counter argument.

Rick belonged to a new time-share android service. He would be hers for two days a week for cooking, cleaning, or running errands—whatever she desired. Though she continued to protest, her father insisted the first three months were prepaid, so there was no use not taking on Rick's services. Quite annoyed and a little bit horrified, Kate reluctantly allowed the android man into her apartment, convinced she would hate his presence, but within just two weeks found him to be rather convenient. She no longer had to do the cleaning tasks she hated—she assigned those to him—and eating some of his delicious home-cooked meals instead of takeout certainly wasn't that much of a sacrifice.

When her three-month gift expired, Kate continued to pay for Rick's bi-weekly services and two years later he was still a regular presence in her home. He was helpful and polite, and though she knew it was all just programming, she always felt as though he enjoyed being there with her.

Then, without warming, everything had changed.

That week one of her days off coincided with one of Rick's days at her apartment, which was convenient, because she knew that she needed to go shopping for some larger, heavier items, and that way she didn't have to carry them herself. She and her android companion set off on their journey downtown, but barely made it a few blocks from her apartment when, all of a sudden, a terrible cracking sound filled the sky. Apparently, part of a crane high above the ground had come loose and was plummeting towards the sidewalk—the sidewalk on which she and Rick stood. While Kate was frozen in horror, her companion sprung into action and tackled her, pulling her out of the way of danger. Before Kate even realized what was happening, she was on the ground with Rick hovering protectively over her, protecting her from all shrapnel.

Several minutes after the twisted metal hit the ground, Kate managed to collect herself and stumble shakily away from the scene. She didn't believe she was injured, but didn't feel up to her errands, so after giving a statement to the responding officer, she began to make her way back home still half in a daze. All the while, she felt Rick beside her, his hand on the small of her back.

It wasn't until they were almost back to her place when she began to question whether or not it was part of android programming to be protective of a human being. It seemed plausible that had the android sensed the danger of the falling object it would have defaulted to a protection-mode, and thus shielded her. What seemed out of place, however, was his continued attention. Then again, perhaps she was simply too out of it to realize what was going on.

Not until she was inside her apartment did she realize that her gut reaction that something was amiss was correct, for on the back of Rick's neck Kate spotted a cut. This was not the same type of cut she'd seen in the faux skin exterior shell of other androids, but a slice dotted with tones of maroon and red; dried blood. Suddenly, her half-dazed shock was replaced by utter fury.

"Human—you're human?!" she'd spat at him. He'd blinked at her and refuted until she grabbed at his neck and revealed the crimson on her fingertips. "You're bleeding, you jerk!" she'd accused, unable to formulate a better insult in her shock.

Remorse immediately filled the man's eyes. "I can explain," he'd tried to say, but she had no interest in hearing more lies, so she'd quite literally pushed him out of her apartment and her life, telling him that she never wanted to see him again—and she'd meant it.

Yet, within her, the question nagged: Why? Why had he done this?

That afternoon, three days later, Kate paced her apartment still seething from the memory of what had transpired. During one of the laps across her apartment she heard a most terrifying noise: the front door creaking open followed by the sound of footsteps. She immediately dashed from her position in the hall and into the bedroom, where she kept a weapon in her bedside drawer. Since firearms had long-since been outlawed, police officials such as herself used high power electronic stun-guns to disable any adversaries they came across. They were highly effective weapons, and Kate would not hesitate to use one against her intruder.

After kicking off her shoes so she could move silently towards the intruder, Kate tip-toed out of her bedroom to find a large figure entering her kitchen. She sucked in a deep breath, and hurried forward, shooting the man the second she was within range without giving his presence a second though. Immediately, he cried out and dropped to his knees as the electrodes in his skin drove volts of electricity through his body. He curled his body inwards and shivered, but Kate didn't back down.

"Don't move or I'll shoot you again."

"Don't, don't." He whimpered before twisting his body with great effort so he could look at her. "Please don't."

Seeing her former android on the floor of her kitchen, Kate dropped her arms to her sides. Though she had no desire to see Rick, she also doubted he would not hurt her. They had been alone together countless times in the past, which meant if he had ill-intentions towards her he would have already acted on them. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I thought—ah, shit," he groaned and groped towards his mid-back where the tines of the stun gun cartridge had lodged in his flesh.

Rolling her eyes slightly, Kate dropped to her knees and yanked the needle points out of his skin. He cried out again, presumably since she was not even the slightest bit careful, but then breathed out a sigh of relief. "Why are you here, Rick—if that is even your real name."

"It is; it is. I—shit, I can't even move." He lamented when he attempted to sit up only to roll back down on the ground and curl his arms across his chest.

She kicked at his shin with her bare foot demanding for the third time, "Why are you here?"

"I…thought you'd be at work. Needed to pick up something I left, drop off…this…" he uttered out while pulling a white envelope out of the inside pocket of his blazer.

Kate belt down and plucked the envelope from his hands. Inside, she found a cashier's check for a little more than thirty thousand dollars. More than a little shocked she stammered out, "Wha—what the hell is this?"

"A—a refund," he stammered. "Two years' worth of payment to RC Inc. for—ah," he groaned again, though that time he succeeded in pushing himself up into a sitting position. Resting his back against the kitchen cabinets he huffed out a breath. "Android services not provided by an android."

Kate continued to stare down at the check. In her fury about other things, she had never once thought about the money she'd paid to the alleged android time-share company. Thinking about it in that moment, however, she would have never expected to receive the money back. Strange as it was, Rick had actually performed the services she'd desired and thus had earned the money fairly, even if it was under the pretense of a huge fabrication.

She considered her options, but then decided against keeping the check. All she really desired was a clean break from the man who had manipulated his way into her life.

Holding the check out in her hand she said, "You don't have to do this. I don't want the money back."

He shook his head. "'s fine; I never needed it."

Her brow wrinkled as she looked between him and the check. "You don't need thirty thousand dollars?"

"Not really."

"How is that possible?"

"I…I—god." He groaned and clutched his hands to his stomach. Rolling onto his right side, he collapsed onto her kitchen floor. "I need to lie down."

With a heavy sigh, Kate placed her stun gun on the counter and walked over to the cabinet where she kept drinking glasses. She pulled one out, filled it to the brim with water, and then placed it on the floor beside Rick's head. "Drink that and you should be feeling better in about ten minutes. Then, I want you to leave and never come back."

Kate left the injured man in the kitchen and sat patiently in the living area for those ten minutes to pass. She heard movement in the kitchen, and then saw him walking towards the corner where her washer and dryer were. She stood, poised to charge after him and demand to know what he was up to, when he returned with a small notepad cradled in his hand. Though he moved a lot slower than normal, he appeared to be steady on his feet, which meant he could oblige by her request.

"I'm really sorry, Kate. I…I never meant for it to turn out like this," he confessed with a small smile. Then, he turned towards the exit.

She wanted to let him go. Part of her brain wanted her to call out, "Good riddance!" as he left, but the other part, the one more in tune with her heart, made her asked, "Why?"

He turned back towards her slowly. "Excuse me?"

She walked two steps towards him. "Why did you do it? Pretend to be a household android? Are you crazy? Do you have some sort of sick fetish?"

He cracked a small smile. "None of the above. It was only meant to be for a short time—for research."

She blinked. "Research? For what?"

"I'm a writer."

She blinked again. "A writer."

"Yes."

"Like…a journalist?"

He shook his head. "Playwright and novelist."

Her jaw fell open in shock. "You've written a novel?"

"Several."

"About what?"

He gave a small smile. "You should know; you've read them."

"What?" she responded a bit dumbly, thinking she must have heard him wrong.

With great effort, he walked from the hall and across the living area, to one of the twin bookshelves she had on the opposite wall. He stood before it for a moment then plucked a hardback title from the second shelf from the top. Turning, he held it out to her.

Kate stepped towards him and reached out for the book. Flowers for Your Grave by R. Castle. She had indeed read that book—several times, in fact; it was one of her favorites, but she still did not understand what he was trying to tell her.

Presumably sensing that, he reached out and tapped the book cover. "That's me; Richard Castle."

"No….?" She said in a way that was not quite a statement nor was it a question; it was somewhere in between for her state of disbelief was multiplying by the moment. When his response was to bob his head, she flipped the book open and lifted its back cover. She leafed through a few pages until she found the About the Author page, only to discover it was very unhelpful.

Mr. Castle lives in New York City with his family.

Madness; this was surely madness. Looking back up at him, she accused, "You're lying—again."

"I'm not," he concluded simply. Then, he reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, and from it pulled a small card, which he held out to her.

She snatched it from him and immediately saw it was a government-issued registration card in the name of Richard E. Castle. The small photograph printed on it was clearly of the man before her, but Kate still could not believe what she was seeing; it just seemed so improbable. She flipped the card over in her hand to check the back—a habit she picked up as a beat cop to see if the ID was a fake. It certainly looked real, so if it was a fake it was a very good one.

Glancing up into the azure eyes of the man before her, Kate felt a shiver travel up her spine. God—what was happening. Looking back down at the book in one hand and the ID in the other, she felt her brain begin to spin. "I…need to sit down."

"If you don't mind, I'll join you. That stun gun really packs a punch," he grumbled.

She said nothing so a moment later they were seated at opposite ends of her couch. She cradled the book in her lap and passed the ID back to him while saying, "I…but…why?" still struggling to understand why one of her favorite authors had masqueraded as an android servant for over two years.

"Like I said, it was research. Thought I'd write a book about an android man or a man being an android. I wasn't sure, but I knew I had to thoroughly research it by playing the part. That's why I created that online advertisement that your father found. It was a three-month gig; thought that would be enough time, but then you wanted to renew your contract."

Kate's eyes darted back and forth as she tried to recall that time not quite two years prior. She had called a number to set up her auto-payments for Rick's services; it had all seemed quite legitimate. "That woman I spoke to…who…"

He nodded. "That was my mother; she was in on the ruse."

"But…why? Why would you have let me renew?"

He gave a little shrug. "I was still researching and learning, especially since I knew you were a cop."

She felt her stomach flip. "You were watching me."

He held out his hands defensively. "Nothing inappropriate, I promise, but-"

"You were watching me as a human when I thought you were an android; it was all inappropriate," she shot back at him.

He dropped his chin. "Fair enough. As I said, it was never my intention to hurt you. I just…well, things went too far and I didn't know how to tell you the truth because…because I knew you'd be mad," he added, mumbling.

Her eyes narrowed. "You're damn right I'm mad. Furious. I let you into my home, my life. You heard things—you saw things that I never would have allowed if I thought you could think with anything other than a computer chip."

"I understand that; I really do and I'll go. I won't contact you again; I promise. I'll—shit!" he cursed when he moved to stand but his knees buckled beneath him. Falling back on the couch he reached down to grip his left calf. "God that hurts!"

"Muscle cramps are common after being shocked," Kate informed him. "They'll come and go, but should be gone in a few hours."

He stood and hobbled a few feet away from her. "Thanks. I'm just gonna…" His voice drifted off and he thumbed towards the door.

He'd nearly made it all the way out of her apartment before she called out, "Rick!" and he turned around. Taking a deep breath she asked, "Did you ever write it? The book you were researching."

He gave her a small smile. "No." Then, after a beat he added, "I wrote something better." And with that, he walked out of her apartment for the final time.

A/N: updates will be daily leading up to this weekend's pornado on tumblr (hint: that means one of the chapters will be M rated :) )

I wasn't sure if i was going to post this reversal-and certainly not this quickly-but then I really wanted to do it for the pornado so...enjoy :)