Sweetart

Because some of us are still reeling from International08's tragically beautiful and heart wrenching "Sweetheart", I thought we could all use a little fluff. (Also, a nod to the great Necco/Sweetart War of 2012)

For: Joy, Deb, Michelle, Liv, Emma, Kate, Molly, Indrani, Karen, Angie, AC, Jade and anyone else I unintentionally forgot (you know who you are) ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, Necco Wafers or Sweetarts. Trust me. All information about Necco/Sweetart history comes to you courtesy of Wikipedia.

Sweetart

Beckett's fingers flailed slightly as they searched her desk for the cool glass candy bowl housed near her computer monitor. Her attention was still focused on the file laying open in front of her. Her other hand came up to scratch at her scalp, her pen, firmly pressed between two fingers, wiggled slightly at the motion. She found the bowl and used two fingers to fish the small disk out. She caught a glimpse of pink as she brought it up to pop it into her mouth and prepared herself for the tart burst of cherry flavor she knew would follow. She sucked on the disk gently, rolling it around with her tongue and her face screwed up as she caught a taste of… sweet powdery chalky mint?

"Bleh," she voiced as she swallowed the rest of the treat and crinkled her nose. She abandoned the file, her pen dropping to the desk, as she pulled the candy bowl closer to her peering inside.

"What's wrong?" Came a murmur from her side and her eyes widened as she plunged a finger into the sea of candies, frantically pushing the small disks around.

"Where are my Sweetarts?"

"Oh, I finished them so I replaced them with Necco Wafers." Castle shrugged as he continued to tap his fingers on the screen of his iPhone, fully immersed in his game of Angry Birds.

"You replaced them?" Kate's eyes narrowed as the dish clattered back to the desk, a couple of candies spilling over the side. She swiveled around in her seat to glare at him. "With Necco Wafers?"

"Yeah," he shrugged again, still not looking up from his game. "They're better anyway."

"Better?"

"Yeah, you know, better, as in an adjective 'indicating that somebody, something, or an action is superior in some way to something or somebody else or as in an improvement upon a situation'."

He finally set his phone down on his lap and looked up, doing a double take when he saw Kate glaring back at him. A look he pointedly ignored and continuing on with his explanation. "The Necco Wafer was invented in 1847 by the New England Confectionary Company- NECCO- and each roll contains eight flavors. Eight: lime, lemon, orange, clove, cinnamon, wintergreen, licorice and chocolate. Note: that is that is three more flavors than Sweetarts, but I digress. Unfortunately, now, the lime is no longer available so that there are only seven flavors in a roll. During the time of the Civil War, they were called Hub Wafers and were carried by the Union Soldiers. The actual name of 'Necco Wafer' came about in 1912. During World War II, there was a jump in the production and sales of these tasty little morsels because they were shipped to soldiers overseas. Other varieties of Neccos include: mocha, white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Would you like to know about the Sweetart?"

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Not really but I am sure you are going to tell me anyway."

Castle did another double take at her saccharine smile before pressing his lips together with a slight 'humph' and continuing on, ignoring the exasperated look he was receiving. "The Sweetart, which is actually spelled S-W-E-E-T-A-R-T and not with two T's in the middle, like most people would think, was invented in 1962 by the same company which produced Pixy-Stix, good to know. They were first introduced in 1963 in the flavors of cherry, lemon, lime, grape and orange. Today, they have the flavors of cherry, grape, blue raspberry, orange and green apple. And that is all the proof you need, my dear Beckett to know that Necco Wafers are better than Sweetarts."

Kate startled. "What? How?"

"Neccos are older."

"So?"

"So, they've been around for over a hundred years longer than Sweetarts, they must be doing something right. Besides, Sweetarts have blue raspberry. What is bue raspberry anyway? There is no way that that occurs in nature. Lame."

"Yo, Beckett!" Esposito called, his statement dying on his lips as he skidded to a stop in front of them. His eyes darted back and forth between the pair, taking in Beckett's glare and Castle's innocent, yet smug, expression. "What's wrong? What did you do, bro?"

"Me?" Castle squawked, aghast. "Why do you automatically assume I did something?"

"Because you are the one on the pointy end of the death glare. So, fess up. What did you do this time? Adjust her chair? Attempt to give her decaf coffee?"

"Decaf coffee is an oxymoron," Kate grumbled as she continued to glare at Castle, her arms crossed firmly over her chest, fingers tapping on her bicep. "I would rather have no coffee than decaf."

"I still maintain that I did nothing wrong."

"He ate all my Sweetarts then replaced them with Necco Wafers," Kate seethed.

Esposito's eyes widened as his head slowly shook back and forth in disbelief. "Dude, rule numero uno. Never mess with a pregnant chick's candy! I thought you'd done this before?"

Kate's glare turned to Esposito. "Pregnant chick?"

"What's that?" Esposito feigned listening, his hand brought up beside his ear. "I think I hear Ryan calling. I'll be… over there…"

Castle made a slight whimpering noise as Kate's glare leveled back on him. "Hey, Espo, you just made it worse and now you're just going to leave me here?"

Espo simply shrugged as Ryan wandered up beside him. "What can I say, bro. You're the one that knocked her up, not me. This is all on you."

"What's going on?" Ryan chimed in as Castle shrank back in his seat, his eyes trained on a spot on the ground in front of him as he tried to ignore Beckett's continued glare.

Esposito knocked his partner on the shoulder, motioning for the other man to walk with him towards the elevator. Their voiced floated back as Espo filled Ryan in.

"What's wrong with Necco Wafers? They are so much better than Sweetarts, I enjoy their subtle flavor."

"I worry for you, bro."

"What?"

"What, what? You are such a Papa's boy."

"Am not."

"Are too."

Castle allowed his gaze to flicker to his partner, as a smile graced his features, in the small hope that she would find the boys' bickering as cute as he did.

She didn't.

"I'm… I'm just," Castle stuttered as he pushed himself out of his chair, sliding his phone into his pocket and pointed towards the elevator. "Going to go to the store and pick up a roll, no, not a roll, a bag of Sweetarts. Big bag. Huge. And I will be back. Love you."

He threw the last two words over his shoulder as he hurried down the hall, motioning for Ryan and Esposito to hold the elevator for him.

Kate watched as the metal doors slid shut before spinning back around to her desk and allowing the smile to spread across her face, laughing to herself.

Sometimes it was too easy.