You're My Past, But Not My Future

Prologue

Castle sat at his desk rocking in his chair. He was spinning a pen in his fingers and starring at the computer screen. A head shot of a gruff looking man named Darren Stevemen was there. It was their number one suspect on the case him and the others were working on. When the elevator opened Castle looked up and saw Esposito and Ryan bringing in their suspect. He stood up, grabbed the file folder and headed to Interrogation Room One.

"A one armed cop, really? What is becoming of this city?" Darren said as Castle walked in. Castle took a breath and put a smile on his face.

"That's detective," he said as he sat down. It wasn't the first time a suspect has started off the interrogation mentioning his handicap.

Even the city has had its say. First it was all about a writer becoming a detective, then about how he sailed through training and finally the arm. To an extent Castle understood where they were coming from but then it started to get out of hand. He couldn't even go to the corner shop without someone badgering him down with questions on how he does his job with one arm or his opinion on what people think of him and the fact that he got the job in the first place. He wasn't to fond of all the attention like he used to be. He just wanted to be able to get coffee without someone being up his ass asking stupid questions.

All in all it wasn't about the people, it was about the arm. After two years it was a topic he would rather not talk about, a topic he DOESN'T have to talk about. Yet the citizens of New York had refused him to go even a day without bringing it up.

The first few months were hard for him. It was also hard on a lot of fragile things in his place.

Luckily he had Kate by his side.

The interrogation didn't last long. Darren ended up confessing that he beat his wife to death when he found out she was cheating on him.

As Castle walked back to his desk he saw someone there standing around. It wasn't until the man turned around that Castle felt like the past just punched him in the face.

"Jared?"

Said man turned around and gave a small, unsure smile to Castle.

"Hi Richard," he said in a low voice. Castle could only stare into Jared's bright, blue eyes. It took a minute for him to catch himself.

"What are you doing here?" Castle asked as he walked around Jared to his desk and placed his folder down.

"I moved back into the city a few days ago. I heard what happened to you and wanted to see you."

Castle looked up at Jared. "We can't talk here Jared."

"Richard," Jared shifted in his stance, "I really want to talk."

"I'm engaged," Castle said.

Jared's glance fell to his feet and Castle can see he was fighting with himself to hold his tongue.

"I just want to talk," he said.

"Jared –"

"Please!...Please, Richard."

Castle looked into Jared's eyes and saw the desperation in them. He opened his mouth to say something but Ryan cut him off.

"Castle, we've got a case."

"Okay," he replied then turned to Jared. "14th Street Union Square, 7 o'clock."

Jared nodded as Castle grabbed his coat and followed Ryan and Esposito into the elevator.

"Who was that?" Ryan asked.

"Just...an old friend."

The two men could tell he didn't want to talk about it at the moment and left it at that.

Right now, they had a crime scene to attend to.

If I had to have someone play Jared in the show it would be Bradley Cooper.