Richard Castle, Watcher (Castle/Buffy) (Complete)

New York, January 2010

Kate Beckett woke up feeling… conflicted. Not about having accepted Rick’s proposal - she had known that it was coming for a while; his hints hadn’t been half as subtle as he had thought. She had just wanted to let him fidget a little, to see if he was really serious. Although given how he seemed to double down when faced with a challenge or obstacle, that might not have been a valid test. Not that she had really doubted him, not once she knew him. She looked to her side, but Rick had already woken up and was… yes, she could hear him singing in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. She smiled and closed her eyes again.

No, she did not regret saying yes. Not even when she thought about Rick’s family and friends, who couldn’t be called anything but ‘eccentric’, in Rick’s words. With the exception of his daughter, and possibly his mother. Alexis at least seemed to be the only fully responsible in the family, apart from her wish to become a Watcher.

Not that Kate could criticise that - she was pretty much an unofficial Watcher herself. An official one, she reminded herself - Rick had registered her with the Council, as he had told her in France. And while the Scoobies were crazy, they were good friends to have. The best, even, when you needed someone to cover your back - in a battle at least.

No, what made her second-guess her decision was the timing. ‘Heat Wave’ was about to be released. A new book, first in a series, with the leading character - and she was the leading character; everyone but Vi could see that clearly - styled after the author’s girlfriend, now fiancée? Shortly after a kidnapping in the family?

The tabloids would be in a feeding frenzy. And the ‘stripper name’ comments would be the least she had to look forward to. A cop, from a decent, but middle-class family, marrying a rich writer and socialite? She scoffed. They’d call her ‘gold digger’, or ‘whore’, depending on whether it was in an article, or in the comment sections on the web page. Or they’d assume she was just another notch on the playboy’s bedpost who got lucky.

She set her jaw. She could take it. She was a cop, not a whore or gold digger. She knew it, Rick knew it, her friends knew it, his friends knew it, his family knew it, and… her father knew it. But he didn’t know yet that she was engaged. She would have to tell Dad, before he found out through the news. Or, worse, by journalists accosting him for a statement.

She snorted. That wouldn’t happen - Castle wasn’t that famous. And no one but them, and Vi, knew about their engagement so far.

“DAD!”

A high-pitched scream interrupted her thoughts.

Alexis must have just been told.

*****​

Her phone had a dozen messages on it when she checked it after getting up. All of them from Britain. So, the Scoobies already knew as well. Vi must have called them right when they got home. Well, they were discreet - more or less. And they were an ocean and five time zones away. But she should tell Dad, and Lanie and… Oh God - she had to tell the precinct. And that would get out - she'd known someone at work had been talking to a tabloid after that article on page six. And it wasn’t as if she wanted to hide her ring - that would hurt Rick. He was so happy, he had wanted to shout to the heavens, as he worded it. And he had tried - fortunately, they had been in the basement of the frat house still, and her ears had already been ringing from the rocket launcher Vi had fired earlier.

She slipped into the robe Rick had bought her a month ago. It was an expensive one - silk - if a tad short. But it made her look sexy as hell and she really liked how it felt on her skin. After a glance at the mirror, to check that she wasn’t showing any signs of the battle with the Bezoar, she made her way to the kitchen.

There she was greeted by all members of the Castle family currently in New York.

“Kate! You said yes!” Alexis seemed to jump on her seat with excitement.

“Yeah she did. And made me win the pool!” Vi grinned like a shark.

The redhead looked far too well for having spent most of the night dealing with demons, Kate noticed. As usual for Slayers. Wait… “Pool?”

Castle sighed. “Apparently, they had a betting pool running on when I would propose.”

Kate glared at the Slayer, who didn’t look ashamed in the least. Alexis, though, looked embarrassed. Wasn’t that like insider trading, those two betting on Castle’s engagement? Kate blinked - that was another sign of Castle’s influence; she wouldn’t have had such a thought before getting involved with him. “They didn’t bet on whether I would accept the proposal?” She looked at Castle, who was carrying two plates with pancakes - no, crêpes - to the table.

“Apparently, that was ‘a sucker’s bet’, as Buffy put it,” Castle said.

Kate didn’t know if she should feel flattered or insulted at that. Then Rick put down the plates and grabbed her around the hip for a kiss - with a dip. She managed not to yelp with surprise and ruin the effect. And somehow, the comments from VI and Alexis didn’t register until they broke the kiss, sometime later.

No, Kate didn’t regret her decision, not at all. Not even when she had to rearrange her robe, which had slipped a little.

*****​

Any thoughts Kate might have had about just telling Lanie, Esposito, Ryan and the Captain - he had to know, of course, even if Castle technically wasn’t one of his officers - evaporated when she saw Castle’s expression as they entered the elevator to the bullpen. He looked like a kid who had been told that, yes, Santa Claus had approved his whole wish list. It felt oddly satisfying to see that expression on the face of a man who could have just about everything, and to know that it was because of her. And not because of someone else. Like his agent, or an English upper class woman. Or a Slayer.

Like the one who was pulling a rather large package out of the Shelby’s trunk. Rick’s smile grew even bigger when he noticed her glance. “The precinct will finally get a real coffee maker! The best my money could buy!”

“One of those fake-Italian ones? With the overpriced coffee capsules? Which the precinct lacks the budget to cover?” Kate resisted the urge to shake her head when Rick winced in sudden understanding. “I’m sure you can return it.”

“Do you mean I carried that thing to the car, and then to the elevator, just to return it?” Vi complained.

“You don’t even feel the weight,” Rick said.

“It’s the principle of the thing!” Vi huffed and held the package in one hand while she gestured with the other, completely ruining her own point.

“Well… our coffee maker at home is not the newest…” Rick looked thoughtful.

“It wouldn’t fit into your kitchen, Rick - that’s double the width of your current one,” Kate pointed out.

“Well… the kitchen isn’t the newest either. And since we’re about to wed…” Rick trailed of when he found himself faced with Kate’s glare, and Vi’s snickering.

“Are you really contemplating to remodel your kitchen, rather than admit that you made a mistake?” Kate frowned at him; that was just like him.

“A new kitchen for the wedding? You know what kind of message that is sending?” Vi was still snickering.

Rick was pouting during the whole ride up to the precinct - but the coffee maker was back in the car’s trunk.

*****​

“He did? And you said yes?”

Kate nodded.

“Girlfriend, that’s great news!” Lanie beamed at her and hugged her. Fortunately, she had been typing up a report and not cutting up a body, so she wasn’t wearing one of her aprons. Still, Kate was glad Lanie was over her grudge about not having been told about demons and magic.

“Show me the ring!”

Kate did, and Lanie made all the right appreciating noises a best friend was supposed to make. It felt oddly normal, these days.

“So… how did he propose? During a romantic dinner in a séparé, with soft music in the background and the stars shining through the glass ceiling?” Lanie looked at her expectantly.

Kate coughed. “Not exactly.”

“He didn’t ask in the middle of a family dinner, putting pressure on you in front of an audience, did he?”

“No, he asked me after we had just fought a bezoar and its mind-controlled horde.” Kate winced at her friend’s expression, and decided not to mention any details.

She still didn’t regret her decision. Rick was worth those odd moments.

*****​

 

New York, January 2010

“‘Stripper Cop Nabs Author’? ‘Undercover for Vice Sting’? I was never undercover, least of all as a stripper!”

Richard Castle, checking his schedule for readings and other promotion events following the official release of ‘Heat Wave’ on his computer, winced when he heard his girlfriend’s - his fiancée’s! - angry voice from the living room. He hadn’t expected that - not seriously. A little bit of teasing, maybe, from friends. Not definitely unfriendly slander from tabloids.

He heard her coming towards his office - Kate had not just mastered running and fighting in high heels better than any other non-Slayer he knew, but stomping as well. A moment later, she stormed inside.

“Rick! Have you read this?” She waved the tabloid around as if she was under attack by a swarm of bees.

Lying would be pointless, so he nodded. “I did, yes.”

“And you didn’t tell me? Never mind, what can we do about this?” She put both hands on his desh, flattening the tabloid, and leaned forward.

He winced again. “Not much, I’m sorry to say.” Very sorry.

“What? That’s slander!”

He took a deep breath and hoped for the best. “It’s not exactly slander. They just speculate about your career - but as long as they only claim you worked as an undercover cop, there’s not much we can do about it.”

“They called me a stripper!”

“Not exactly… they said you were allegedly an undercover cop investigating strip clubs. Allegedly. And a cop is an honourable profession.”

“Of course it is! But the way they insinuate that I seduced you while working undercover as a stripper…” She shook her head and he could tell that she was clenching her teeth. “That’s…”

“... utterly ridiculous, and will make a good story at our golden anniversary?” He smiled as sincerely as he managed.

“No,” she answered in a very flat voice. Well, he had tried.

He sighed. “I hate it too - but there’s not much we can do. Legally, they are in the clear.”

He hadn’t known Kate could growl like that. Outside the bedroom, at least. And with more menace than lust. He better had to do something about this rag - she was his wife to be, after all, as in ‘for richer, for poorer’. And there was the possibility that she she might, inexplicably, and without any reason, of course, blame him for her unfair association with stripping. He cleared his throat. “Well… we might take recourse to certain extra-legal means…”

“What?” She frowned at him.

“Nothing strictly illegal, of course. But, technically, this is an attack on your honour,” - and his, but he didn’t need to mention that - “and since the charter of the Watcher’s Council, even the latest version, is positively ancient, we have a certain leeway with what is considered self-defence.”

“What do you mean, Castle?” She was baring her teeth now.

“Err… Willow’s a great hacker?”

She blinked. And then she smiled, and Rick wondered what kind of evil he had just unleashed upon the world.

*****​

“‘New York Daily Post under investigation for tax evasion, slander, blackmail and... bestiality?” Richard Castle looked up from the New York Times - which had printed a very favourable review of ‘Heat Wave’ - and at his family, and family to be, who had gathered for breakfast.

“Who would have thought that such despicable people were behind that slanderous rag?” Kate wasn’t even bothering to hide her satisfied smile.

And the sage nod and serious expression of Alexis clearly indicated that she had had a hand in that event as well.

“Isn’t that going a bit far?” Bestiality? Really?

“No.” Kate said. “We didn’t actually frame them - we just… speculated.”

“Alluded to. In places the FBI was observing. With online handles that might have been also used by certain people in the newspaper’s employ,” Alexis explained, with a wide grin. “Although Willow said that the Feds will find enough proof of actual crimes that the newspaper is finished anyway.”

Vi nodded enthusiastically. “That’ll teach them to speculate about Castle dropping me for Kate! As if he’d ever do that!”

“Because he never had you to drop,” Kate said, with a slightly thinner smile than before.

“Technicalities! It’s the thought that counts!” Vi stated, then refilled her plate for the third time.

Castle meanwhile was trying to decide if he should be proud or afraid of his family. Or both.

*****​

“Rick? Do we have anything scheduled for tomorrow evening?”

When he heard Kate’s question from the living room, Rick checked his agenda, which was quite packed for the near future - it was really ironic that he had less time to relax after he had finished a book than when he was writing it, he thought. But tomorrow evening looked good. “No, it’s free - unless Gina’s asking for another dinner with obnoxious publishers. In that case we’re busy.”

“Thanks!” He heard her laugh, and could picture her in his mind, her expression, carefree… maybe she had something planned. A surprise, a candlelight dinner… or something else, with candles - Kate was quite a bit more adventurous than one would expect from a cop.

And there she was! Smiling, and standing in the doorway to his office.

He grinned. “I assume that tomorrow’s evening is now solidly booked.”

She nodded. “Oh, yes. My dad’s coming to dinner.”

His grin slipped.

“What?”

*****​

“So… your father is coming for dinner, and Dad’s freaking out.”

Castle glared at his daughter. “It’s not like that.”

“It’s exactly like that,” Kate said. “He’s been moaning about his upcoming doom for an hour.”

“I haven’t been moaning,” Rick corrected her. “I’m just - completely understandably - concerned about making a good impression on my future father-in-law. Whom I have never met before, I have to point out.” Castle would certainly not have a favourable opinion of any boy whom his daughter decided to marry and whom he had never met.

“Translation: He feels guilty about not having asked your dad for permission to marry you - despite that being a very sexist and archaic custom any intelligent woman will take offense to,” Alexis said. He could hear Willow’s influence in her words, and Mother’s in her loud, suffering sigh. “He probably thinks that because he would be going up the walls should I bring a fiancé home whom he had never met. Which I will not do, Dad, by the way.” His daughter knew him far too well, Rick thought, but he was happy that she respected his opinion in that matter at least. Then she went on. “I would marry him before bringing him home, so Dad can’t wreck the engagement.”

“I would never!” Rick protested. No one seemed to believe him, though. He huffed. “Let’s focus on the problem, please.”

“Castle! My father isn’t a ‘problem’!”

“I didn’t mean it that way!” Why was everyone thinking the worst of him today? “For the record: I didn’t say that I shared those sexist and archaic views. But, seeing as your father is not as young as I am, he might have a different opinion on this subject.” What father wouldn’t? Rick thought.

“Dad, do you really think Kate’s father would be that old-fashioned? He had no problem with her career choice, after all!” Alexis declared.

Kate, though, suddenly looked guilty.

He was so doomed.

*****​

“So… Your dad wasn’t happy with you becoming a cop?” Castle asked an hour later, when Alexis had gone to tell Vi everything, after his slayer had returned from her evening patrol.

Kate, sitting on the couch and reading the advance copy of his book, glared at him, but she didn’t deny it. Instead she sighed. “He worries too much. Ever since my mother…” She trailed off.

He nodded. He completely understood a father worrying for his daughter.

“... which is why he is so happy about the engagement.”

“Wait, what?”

She sighed. “I haven’t told him about your real work. He thinks you’re simply a rich Fantasy author.”

“Bestselling Fantasy author,” he corrected her automatically. “But… why would he be so happy about that?” Apart from the rich part, of course, but Castle didn’t think Kate’s father would be that concerned about money. On the other hand, Rick didn’t know him at all, and Kate hadn’t talked about her father that much.

She sighed again. “He thinks that you’ll persuade me to quit my job.”

“But… that makes no sense!” He shook his head. “We met because of your work, and I even joined the department as a civilian consultant so I could work with you!” She stared at him, and he coughed before continuing. “Well, unofficial consultant, at least.”

“You convinced the Mayor that you needed me as your inspiration so you could check our cases for demonic influence.” And get her to date him.

“Yes. That’s like the FBI providing assistance to the department.” Her frown reminded him just how much the local cops liked the Feds meddling in their cases. “Anyway… so, your dad will try to convince me to convince you to stop being a cop?” That was a lot of convincing.

“Yes.”

“And he won’t like it when we tell him that I’m actually hunting demons.”

“No.”

Her father would kill him.

*****​

 

New York, January 2010

Contrary to Richard Castle’s expectations (or fears), the dinner with Kate’s dad - his future father-in-law - started out very well. Or relatively well. Vi and Alexis were late - apparently, Alexis’s meeting at school had ran later than expected - but that might have been a blessing in disguise, allowing Castle to make a good impression before his family arrived to undermine him.

“Dad!”

“Mister Beckett!” Rick beamed at the older man and stepped aside to let him inside. Kate’s father looked slightly puzzled but followed him inside. Kate, though, glared at him behind her father’s back. Rick frowned at her - you didn’t invite anyone, not even your family, inside your home. Everyone knew that!

Jim Beckett was looking around their living room, apparently surprised by the amount of medieval weaponry on display.

“It’s great, right?” Rick said quickly. “All of the pieces are authentic!” He smiled and pointed at a random blade. “Like this sword here: It’s an estoc, 15th century. Most mistake it for a rapier, because it’s also optimised for thrusting, but there are a few differences, like the thickness of the blade, and the width, and of course the period it was used.”

“Kate told me you were an blade enthusiast.”

Was that a good thing? He glanced at Kate, but she was ignoring him now. “Oh, I’m at best an amateur. You should see Vi, she’s the real enthusiast. Girl loves her blades; she makes me buy her one or two per months.”

“Really? Aren’t antique swords really expensive?” He looked like Kate when she spotted some inconsistency in a suspect’s claim, Rick thought.

“Oh, yes. My bank account is weeping each time we go shopping.” He chuckled. Once again behind her father’s back, Kate was baring her teeth at him - was he doing something wrong? He was just being witty while being honest.

“Ah.” Jim Beckett nodded. “I’ve heard a lot of things about you from Katie.”

The non sequitur threw him - what had Kate told her father? And why hadn’t she told Rick a lot about her father? She had even blocked his attempt to have Willow investigate Jim Beckett’s background. “Really? Only good things, I hope.” He forced himself to laugh.

“Well… mostly.”

“Mostly? Only mostly?” Rick frowned at Kate, who was laughing - it sounded a bit forced as well, though.

“Oh, I wouldn’t have agreed to marry him if I didn’t think he’d make a great husband.” She waved at the couch. “Let’s sit down.”

“Let me give you the tour,” Rick said at the same time. He quickly added: “After we’ve taken an apéritif.” And Kate was frowning at him again! Oh, right - she mentioned her father had been an alcoholic! “I mean… orange juice?”

“Thank you, Mister Castle.”

And now Rick knew from whom Kate had inherited that expression. He managed not to wince until he was on the way to the kitchen and their guest couldn’t see his expression.

“What are you doing?” Kate whispered - hissed - at him after she had joined him in the kitchen.

“I’m getting rid of the evidence,” he whispered back as he emptied the cocktails he had prepared into the sink.

“I mean talking about swords like other men talk about their Ferraris!”

Oh. Did he really sound like that? “I just wanted to break the ice, you know? What man doesn’t like to talk about swords?”

“My father doesn’t like weapons.” Oh. That man, apparently. But how could he have known that? With Kate being such an expert shot? “And I told you that,” she continued.

Oh, again. He winced. “Well, swords aren’t actually weapons. Very few people want them banned, after all.”

“Tell that to Vi!” She whispered through clenched teeth as he filled three glasses with orange juice.

“Are you crazy?” He blurted out before he noticed her grim and yet smug smile. “Point taken,” he replied in kind. It wasn’t one of his best saves, anyway.

As they returned to the living room, he saw that Jim Beckett was bending down from his seat - apparently he had dropped a peanut or other. Castle rushed forward. “Don’t bother, don’t bother! I’ll pick it up!”

He all but dropped the glasses on the low table, then knelt down to grab the spilled snacks - and checked if the pistol Vi had strapped beneath the seat ‘for emergencies’ was still in place.

Kate, quick on the uptake, was distracting her father. “Oh, don’t mind him - he’s always like this when we have guests.”

“I wouldn’t have expected that based on what you told me about his office.”

“Oh, I’m different when I’m working - you might say my true nature comes to the fore. Spontaneous, creative, unbeholden to rigid rules.” Castle smiled widely as he sat down next to Kate on the couch. “Cheers!” he added, raising his glass.

“So, you’re an author.”

“Bestselling author,” Castle responded automatically, then had to fight not to wince when Kate stepped on his foot. “Kate’s my biggest fan. The biggest fan of my books, I mean.” That sounded less like a good thing than it had in his head.

“Yes. You’ve met the first time when she was twelve. I remember her telling me everything about it for hours afterwards,” Mister Beckett said. Castle nodded - he counted that as a good thing, mostly. Even if it emphasised their tiny age difference. “Your first wife taught her how to shoot a crossbow, I think.”

Rick grinned. “Oh, I wasn’t like that. It was more like letting her shoot a few bolts. To effectively use a crossbow in combat, you have to train a long time.” If you were hunting vampires, at least - the council had been quite clear on that.

“You seem to have a lot of experience with weapons.”

“Oh, yes. I pride myself on the authenticity and realism of my fight scenes.” He smiled, widely - most critics agreed that this was one of his strengths.

“In a Fantasy story.”

“Dad!”

“I’m just saying… fighting vampires and realism don’t go that well together.” Castle didn’t like the man’s patronising smile.

He didn’t let that show, though, and shrugged. “Well, it’s hypothetical realism. If vampires existed, my fight scenes would be the epitome of realism.” Take that, sceptic!

“Vampires and superpowered women. And demons.”

Castle didn’t make the quip that women were the most terrifying of the three. “I’d like to think that Kate is the perfect example of a real superwoman.” He turned his head to look at Kate and put his hand on hers. “How she can run and fight high heels is a mystery.”

He frowned when no one laughed at his joke. Oh, right - Kate said that her fighting was a sore spot. The sore spot. But wasn’t he supposed to support her choices, instead of catering to her parents, or father in this case?

Fortunately the door opened and a diversion walked in. Two, actually - Vi and Alexis. “Mister Beckett,” Castle said, standing up - Kate’s father had still not told Rick to call him ‘Jim’ - “here are my daughter Alexis and Vi.”

“Hello Mister Beckett,” Alexis chirped. “Hi, Kate! Sorry that we’re late, Dad - the school newspaper is in trouble, and we talked for hours about possible solutions.”

“Do they need money?” Rick refrained from pulling out his checkbook. “Did the principal threaten to cut the paper’s funding after they revealed his sordid affair with his secretary?”

“Dad! There was no revelation about an affair!” Alexis pouted at him.

“Oh… you bowed to pressure, and buried the story, and now you’re wracked with guilt, and need a way to undo it?” He could see it - the anguish, put between integrity and responsibility. Wait - Alexis wasn’t part of the school newspaper team.

“Dad! It’s nothing like that! But the core of the staff are graduating, and they are looking for competent successors. There are a number of volunteers, but they are too biased.”

“I don’t know how I can help you with that, honey,” Rick said. “I heard the schools in New York frown on press-ganging students.” Though he was certain that a few principals had thought about it when competing for the best sports talents.

“I know, Dad. I didn’t expect you any help from you. I was simply explaining why we were late.” Alexis turned to their guest and her most polite smile appeared. “Please excuse him - he usually assumes that everything is about him.”

Jim Beckett actually laughed at that.

Rick wasn’t certain if she should resent him for that, or his - far too responsible and serious - daughter for having more success at breaking the ice.

Vi, who had used the brief distraction to empty the bowls with peanuts, picked this moment to demonstrate her opinion that everything should be about her. “Hi, Mister Beckett!” she said, sitting down on her usual place on the armrest of the couch despite Castle’s pointed look at the free seat. “I’m Vi. I’ve been keeping Rick alive for eight years now. You can trust your daughter to me!”

As Kate glared at his Slayer and her father seemed torn between confusion and amusement, Rick realised that Vi had utterly misunderstood their concerns about Jim Beckett’s fear for his daughter.

Slayers!

*****​

 

New York, January 2010

“I can’t help but wonder why an author needs a bodyguard, Mister Castle.”

“Call me Rick,” Richard Castle said. “Would you like more lasagna?” Everyone liked his lasagna, and Jim Beckett was no exception. Rick was the best cook in the family, after all. Not that there was much competition. Mother could make sandwiches and a few desserts, Vi could grill meat - barely - and Alexis… well, he hoped that his little daughter would find a boy who could cook.

“Thank you… Rick. It’s delicious.”

“I know, right?” Rick beamed at Jim - had he told Rick to call him ‘Jim’ yet? Or was that implied? “Everyone loves it.”

“Is that why you have made enough to feed a company?” Jim pointed at the second casserole, which would be generous for double their number - if none of them were a Slayer.

“No, that’s just for Vi,” Kate said, smiling widely. “She likes to get seconds and thirds. Casseroles.”

Vi growled - she couldn’t do much else right now, since Kate had timed her remark with Castle’s Slayer stuffing her mouth - and Rick intervened with the best smile he could muster: “She’s got a healthy appetite.”

“Ah.” Jim probably didn’t think that eating so much was healthy. Or he suspected that the redhead was bulimic. “But as I was saying: Why do you need a bodyguard? You haven’t hired her just so you could follow Kate at work. She’s been with you for years.”

“Did you follow me in the yellow press?” Rick asked. That sounded kind of creepy.

“No, I asked Kate after the first article mentioning a love triangle involving you three was shown to me by my noisy neighbour.”

“Vi never was my girlfriend!” Rick said.

“You could show a bit more regret and longing there, Rick!” Vi cut in, apparently having finished stuffing her mouth for the moment - literally, since she was refilling her plate.

“More like relief,” Kate added with a glare. Which was so not helping, judging by Jim’s - should Castle think of him as Jim? - expression.

“I trust that my daughter wouldn’t have agreed to marry a man who was cheating on her with his bodyguard,” Jim said. “But you’re evading the question, Rick.”

Kate’s father would make a good prosecutor, Rick thought. “Well, as you have certainly heard, I’m rich and famous. Which means that I and my family need more protection than others.”

“Protection that failed last month.”

“I wasn’t there, or I would’ve killed every last kidnapper!” Vi said before Castle could step on her foot.

He sighed. “Let me guess: You are wondering if your daughter will be safe with me.”

“Actually, I’m wondering if you wouldn’t hire Katie as a second bodyguard.”

“What?” Rick stared at him.

“Dad!” Kate glared at Jim.

“He doesn’t need a second bodyguard!” Vi stated after swallowing another mouthful of pasta.

“Really? You still think I should stop being a cop! And now you’re trying to leverage a kidnapping to guilt me into quitting?”

“No, I’m not.”

Rick didn’t believe him. And neither did Kate - she huffed and shook her head.

“I worry about you, Katie.”

“You shouldn’t. She’s a decent shot. Not as good as me, of course, but then, no one is!” Vi said, not helping. “I don’t have to protect her that much in a fight!”

“You sound like she has been in a fight where you had to protect her,” Jim said.

“Ah…” Vi blinked, then smiled weakly and turned to Rick with the usual expression on her face that she had after she realised that she had made a blunder.

“No,” Kate said. “She didn’t have to save me.”

Vi bit her tongue. Literally - Rick could tell.

Jim sighed while he smiled rather sadly at Kate. “Katie, you’re still doing the ‘I’m not lying, but I’m not telling the whole truth either’ bit. I can tell.”

Well, it looked as if the jig was up. Rick leaned forward. “Jim, you don’t have a heart condition, do you?”

“Now I’m even more worried about Katie.”

“Is that a yes or no?” Rick asked again. Causing his future father-in-law to have a heart attack would not be a good thing for his upcoming marriage.

“I hope you’re just trying to tell me that you’re pregnant.”

“Not exactly.” Rick decided to take that as meaning Jim hadn’t a heart condition. “But… you know, Vi is not really my bodyguard.”

“That should be ‘not just his bodyguard’,” Vi butted in.

“Is she your daughter?”

“No. Though she certainly feels like one at times.”

“Rick!”

“Dad!”

He cleared his throat, ignoring the outraged expressions of Alexis and Vi. “Now, since we have finished dinner - but for Vi, who already knows this - let me tell you a story.” First his father, now Kate’s father - he was telling this story far more than usual these days, Rick thought.

“The world is older than you know…”

*****​

“That’s a recap of your ‘Vampire Hunter’ history, just with a few names changed, Rick. Not enough to avoid a copyright suit.”

“I did change the story more than that for my books,” Rick said. The Council couldn’t sue him, could they?

“Really?” Jim sounded like he doubted that.

“Yes. Did you read them?”

“A few. My first was read to me by Katie when she was little.”

“Oh!” Rick grinned. He could imagine the scene, little Katie forcing her parents to listen to her favourite book… he was getting off-topic in his head, he reminded himself. Even if he really wanted to ask how Jim liked them. “I hope you’ll like my new book, which will feature a heroine modeled after Kate.”

“Ah, yes, ‘Nikki Heat’.”

Jim’s tone almost made Rick wince. “You’ve read the article then.” No need to say which one.

“Yes.”

Kate cleared her throat.

“Anyway, we’re getting off-topic.” Rick smiled. “Now, I’m not afraid of a copyright suit because what I told you wasn’t a story invented by another author, but a history.”

“Demons and history usually don’t go together, Mister Castle.”

He was back to ‘Mr Castle’ now? “That’s what you believe. But I can prove it to you. Vi here is a Slayer.”

“Superpowered hot chick!” Vi elaborated enthusiastically but needlessly.

“Really.” Jim’s tone was dryer than a martini done wrong.

“Normally, we do this with the couch,” Rick said. Before he could continue, Vi had literally leaped out of her chair, over Jim’s head with a yard to spare, and landed at the couch. A second later, she was lifting it above her head. One-handed. “Like this.”

Jim was gaping. His mouth was moving, but he was not saying anything.

A much more satisfying reaction than the one of Rick’s father, all things told.

*****​

“Demons exist… and you hunt them.”

“Yes.” Rick nodded. “Mostly vampires, but we - that is Vi and I - fought pretty much every type of demon we know.”

“And the First Evil!” Vi added. “In hell itself! Well, I did - Rick just looked down into the mouth of hell.”

“You hunt demons, and you dragged Katie into this.”

Now that didn’t sound like a correct summary of the events that had led to this. “I don’t think anyone can drag Kate into anything,” Rick said, maybe a little sharper than he should have.

“It’s more like she barged in and didn’t leave until we took her hunting,” Vi added her own biased account.

“Demons that hunt humans for food, are impervious to bullets, and many times stronger than the strongest human. Monsters straight out of a nightmare.”

Jim had read more than a few of his books, Rick thought.

“Hey! Slayers are human! Just better!” Vi protested.

Jim seemed to be ignoring them. “Katie! This far more dangerous than being a cop! I read enough of those books to know that those women usually die. Violently. And their human helpers don’t fare any better.”

“It’s far more important than the work we do as cops as well, Dad. Sometimes the entire world is at stake.”

“Or a city. Like New York. We call that an apocalypse. But they are rare - we’ve got seldom more than one per year.” Rick thought it best to get everything out in one go. Like ripping off a bandaid.

Jim didn’t seem to have listened. “But she could leave the hunting to the ‘Slayers’, couldn’t she? She is not as essential as they are.”

Kate was grinding her teeth, Rick saw. He quickly said: “Sometimes, it takes a normal human to save the day - or the world. Not that Kate is normal, mind you. She’s extraordinary.”

That earned him a smile from her, and a scowl from her father.

“I came here to convince you to keep my daughter safe - or at least safer than she is as a cop. And now I hear that she is, in fact, in much greater danger than before.” Jim sounded rather bitter as he shook his head.

“Dad…” Kate reached out and touched his hand. He didn’t react, though.

“Jim, we’ve been doing this for a while now - twenty years in my case, actually.” Not counting his break until Sunnydale. “Almost ten for Vi, even if she doesn’t act like it most of the time.”

“Hey!”

“And Kate’s been with us for six months now. We know what we are doing. Hell, she probably was in more danger when we stormed that manor full of Russian gangsters in France - demons generally don’t use guns.”

“You what?”

Oh, he hadn’t mentioned that before, had he? “I mean, she wasn’t in any real danger back then, we had the most powerful witch on the planet with us, and the most experienced Slayers.”

Strangely, that didn’t seem to reassure Jim Beckett. And everyone was glaring at Rick, again.

*****​

 

New York, February 2010

“My dad’s speaking to us again. Provisionally.”

In front of his bedroom’s mirror, Castle stopped tying his tie when he heard Kate’s voice from the living room. “Oh? It’s just been… a week?” He checked the calendar. “Yes, eight days.” So the evening hadn’t been a total disaster, Castle thought. “What brought this on?”

“The wedding invitations, I think,” Kate said. Or something like it - Castle wasn’t really listening when he saw her standing there, in that oh so sexy cocktail dress that was worth every Euro he had paid for it in Paris. It hugged her body in that uniquely French way, classy and yet more exciting than than lingerie. Which, he realised, she couldn’t be wearing with how the dress was cut.

“Castle?”

“What?” He blinked.

“I asked if you were listening.”

“You mentioned wedding invitations before I was struck dumb by your appearance,” he admitted with his best roguish grin.

That made her blush, a little. “Dad said he still hates that we’re hunting demons, but he won’t create a scandal by not attending the wedding.”

“So, will he give you away at the altar?” Rick asked, tearing his gaze away from her legs.

“If he behaves.” Kate shook her head. “I’m still angry at him for trying to tell me how I have to live my life.”

“Oh, all parents do that. With the exception of my dad,” Rick said. “But I’m certain that if he had been involved in my life, he’d have tried to run it too.” Or ruin it.

“I suddenly feel a deep connection to Alexis.”

Rick frowned. “I’ll have you know that I have never questioned Alexis’s position as the mature and responsible member of the family.”

“And yet you try to run her life for her as well.” Kate gave him a look, not quite a glare.

He felt defensive anyway. “It’s not as if she actually listens to me. She does what she thinks is best.” Like joining the Watchers Council.

“So do I.”

“Did you just compare me to your father?” That was wrong on so many levels. “And yourself to Alexis?” That was even worse.

Judging by her grimace, she shared his thoughts.

He cleared his throat. “So… are you ready for the launch party of ‘Heat Wave’?”

“Yes. But if anyone calls me ‘Nikki Heat’…”

“You’ll smile and bear it?”

“No promises, Castle.”

“As long as you don’t shoot or arrest them…”

“I said ‘no promises’.”

He hoped that she was joking.

*****​

Vi, of course, was hyped for the party. “I can cosplay as myself!” she declared, grinning widely, when she joined Rick and Kate in his living room.

“Vivian shares certain character with you, but she isn’t you,” Rick corrected her. “And I think I mentioned that her tops generally cover a bit more than what you’re wearing.” It looked more like a bikini than a top, actually.

“That’s what the jacket is for,” his slayer retorted with a shameless smile.

“I thought that’s to cover up your weapons,” Kate cut in.

“Well, yes. And that doesn’t leave much room for anything else. Wouldn’t want to cause my jacket to rip,” Vi said, pushing her chest out.

“I might be saddled with a stripper name, but you choose a stripper outfit.” The claws were coming out now, Rick thought.

“Oh, no. This is a Slayer outfit.” Vi bared her teeth. “Just ask Faith.”

Who would probably say it was both, Rick thought, just to annoy everyone. He decided to step in before things got out of hand - the last thing he wanted was to have the press focus on a brawl between his bodyguard and his fiancée instead of his new book. Although a catfight between Nikki Heat and Vivian… he would have to fit that into the outline of his next book. He cleared his throat. “Let’s go - we don’t want to be late.” Alexis and his mother were already there, he knew. Alexis to ensure that everything was ready - she still remembered that one launch party where catering had made a mistake - and Mom to boss the staff around to get her the best wine.

“That’s not what you said last time,” Vi said.

“I simply wanted to avoid breaking too many traffic laws. Rupert gets testy when the Council has to clear up traffic tickets.”

“They do that?” Kate asked.

“Well… it avoids certain drivers losing their license for excessive speeding, which in turn avoids more serious trouble with the law when they still drive to save humanity from demons,” Rick explained.

“Which could be avoided if Vi learned to drive without breaking the law.”

Vi grinned. “I can drive like every normal slowpoke. I just prefer not to.”

“That sounds like what a habitual speeder would say.”

Rick coughed. “We really should go now.”

“Right - oh, I almost forgot!” Vi pulled out a small envelope from her jacket. “I had those made to avoid any embarrassing misunderstandings.” With a wide grin she handed him and Kate…

“Badges?” He stared at his badge. “‘Hi, I’m the author!`? Really?” People who came to his launch parties knew him.

“I didn’t want to let you feel left out,” Vis said, adding her own, which read ‘Hi, I’m Vivian!’, to her top. Castle was impressed that this didn’t weaken the straining fabric enough to open a tear.

“‘Hi, I’m Nikki Heat?’” Kate wasn’t amused. Not at all.

Castle grabbed her badge and dropped it into into his pocket. It would have clashed with her dress anyway. “You know, if you continue like this, I’ll have Vivian and Nikki become a couple in the next book.”

Both women stared at him with expressions of horror.

*****​

“Could you sign my top?”

At his last launching party, Castle had loved being asked to do that. But with Kate on his arm, it felt awkward. And he couldn’t ask the girl to hand the top over so he could sign it without touching her. Then he realised that the girl wasn’t looking at him. “Kate, she means you,” he said, not bothering to hide his grin.

“What?”

The girl pulled on her top - which rivaled Vi’s in skimpiness. “Here, please!” Kate was hesitating when the girl added: “My friend’s getting Vivian’s signature, but I like Nikki Heat better. She feels more real.”

“She does, doesn’t she?” Kate said, suddenly all smiles, and signed the top with a flourish.

“You know, Vi heard that,” Rick whispered.

“Yes, I know.” Kate’s smile didn’t falter. “Aren’t fans great?”

“Usually. But some of the hardcore fans on the forums are…” He shrugged. Words failed him, and he was a bestselling author.

“I know, Rick - remember when we went over them hunting a killer?”

“That’s how we met,” he said. “Would you have imagined, back then, that we’d be engaged at the next party?”

“No.”

“You don’t have to deny it that strongly, you know.” His ego could take it, of course. But still!

“I’m just being honest. You didn’t make the best impression on me, back then. All arrogant, rich, entitled.” She shook her head.

“Never judge a book by its cover.” Even though his ruggedly handsome face and well-toned body were good cover, if he did say so himself.

“Oh, I know.” She nodded at the tower of books in the centre of the room. “My advance copy didn’t have a cover.”

“Well… it wasn’t ready yet.”

“Or someone who knew how I would react to two nude women on the cover removed it.”

“They’re not exactly nude!” he protested. And they were just silhouettes anyway. Like in James Bond openings.

“Stripper name, nude silhouette - what’s next, a stripper pole? Mudwrestling?”

Rick buried the idea of a catfight in the next book.

“Although I’m wondering why you didn’t insert yourself in the book.” She grabbed a fresh glass of champagne from a passing waiter.

“Are you kidding? A self-insert? My family and the Council would never let me forget it!” He grabbed a glass for himself.

“Well, the loremaster certainly isn’t modelled after you, but the private detective… there’s a certain resemblance.” She grinned.

“What? He doesn’t look like me at all. And he’s younger than her!”

“But how he acts in the bed scene...” Her grin fit the dress now. All too well.

As Kate finished her glass and then went over to pose with Vi, Castle really hoped that his Slayer hadn’t heard that remark.

*****​

 

New York, February 2010

“Well, at least the reviews are very good.” Richard Castle folded the New York Times and put it down on the breakfast table.

“Other than The Times,” Alexis pointed out. She meant the English newspaper, of course.

“They liked my books before the Council realised that I was their author. I’m certain that Travers and his ilk exerted undue influence on the critic.” Any fool could see that the timing of the sudden change was no coincidence.

“And why didn’t they change their view of your work after the old Council was replaced?” Alexis had a far too smug expression on her face, in his opinion.

“Inertia. You know how stuffy Brits are. Changing their opinion once was hard enough and probably required blackmail. Changing it twice? No chance, old chap!” Rick shook his head.

“I’m British too, Dad.” Alexis said, using her best English upper class accent. Mary had a lot to answer for!

“Only half, dear, and that half doesn’t count.” They were divorced, after all.

“I was born and raised in Merry Old England. The mother country. I have a British passport, too. And so do you, dear fellow.”

He gaped at her. “That’s enough of that crazy talk! Besides, you shouldn’t be so happy about that critic maligning my work - my books pay for our home, after all!”

“Aw, Dad!” Alexis stood up and hugged him. “I’m just teasing you a little. I’m very proud of your success.”

“Why do you sound as if you were the parent and I were the child?”

“Because one of us has to be the mature and responsible one,” his daughter retorted and grabbed the Times for herself. The New York one.

“That wasn’t very mature,” he grumbled. “Besides, once Kate is my wife, she can take over that position.”

“No, she can’t. Marrying you proves she is not mature enough.”

“Hey! Kate is very mature - in all the right places!” Which, he realised, was a very immature statement. And an insensitive one, too, judging by the face his his adolescent and not yet so mature in all the right - or wrong - places daughter made. On the other hand, she would be working with Slayers, who were, as a rule, all ‘superpowered hot chicks’, to quote Faith. Her ego would need to get used to that.

Especially if it meant winning an argument with his daughter. He smiled and opened the next newspaper. Maybe he should cut the reviews out? No, that was so… needy. He hadn’t done that since… a few years ago.

He could save the electronic articles on his computer, instead.

“Where is Kate, by the way?” Alexis asked.

“Ah… you were already gone home, right, you wouldn’t know,” Rick said.

“What happened? Dad!”

Whoa… Alexis had the same intense stare as her mother. He leaned back a bit. “Well… there was a discussion - or an argument - about who was the main character of the book. Nikki or Vivian.”

“What? You wrote the book from her perspective. The title includes her name.” Alexis shook her head.

“Well, I know that, you know that, everyone knows that. But you know how some fans aren’t exactly sane. And you know Vi.”

“What did she do?”

“Challenged Kate to a drinking contest.”

“And Kate accepted?” Alexis sounded very doubtful.

“Well… remember when we flew back to Paris to go shopping with the Scoobies?”

“No, I don’t, since, you know, I stayed with Mum,” Alexis said.

“Well… Kate and Buffy talked a lot with each other. Swapped stories, and all.”

“Dad! Get to the point. You don’t have to meet a minimum amount of words here.”

“Hey!” He frowned. He didn’t write like that. “Anyway, to make a long story short, Kate accepted the challenge - and she had demon beer ready.”

“Oh… but… Oh my god!” Alexis looked horrified rather than amused.

“No, no! It wasn’t like it was - supposedly - with Buffy. That beer just affected Slayers like normal beer affects humans.”

“So... ?”

“Vi went down, hard,” Castle said, sighing. His Slayer had walked right into that.

Alexis winced. “But… where’s Kate then?”

“Well, Kate had forgotten that the beer affected normal humans normally as well,” Rick explained.

“Hangover?”

“Demonic hangover!” He nodded sagely, but she didn’t laugh. Tough crowd.

*****​

New York, March 2010

“You know, I was married twice, and I don’t remember that many planning sessions,” Richard Castle said, pushing another catalogue with flower arrangements - flower arrangements! - away.

“That’s because Mum’s parents organised everything for your first wedding, since they didn’t trust you or Gran,” Alexis said, “and Gina simply wanted to marry you before you came to your senses.”

Rick winced at that reminder. “I see. But wouldn’t that make me singularly unqualified to decide anything about my wedding, due to my lack of experience?”

“Well, it’s not as if we’re really listening to you, dear,” his mother said with her most patronising smile. “But you can make a good tie breaker.”

“I am glad to be so appreciated. I feel married already.”

“Really, Rick?”

Now Kate was glaring at him. Apparently, wedding planning was a serious business, and you couldn’t make jokes during or about it. Not even gallows humour.

“Shouldn’t dear Dad be here a well? I think the males of the family are rather underrepresented.” He was outnumbered four to one, after all.

“You represent them,” Kate said rather dryly. Damn. “But we have been talking to him. He’s coordinating security with Xander and Willow.”

“Does that mean that we’ll be exchanging our vows in a bunker?” Rick asked. He wasn’t entirely kidding.

“No, no,” his mother assured him. “We nixed that idea.”

He hoped that she was kidding.

Rick leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Is it too late to elope?”

“Yes. Buffy already bought her bridesmaid outfit.”

“She’s going to be a bridesmaid?” Rick asked.

“Are you going to tell her that she won’t?” Vi cut in.

“Buffy asked, and I was happy to agree,” Kate explained, with a glance at Vi.

“Ah.” They were closer than Rick had assumed. Well, better Buffy than Faith. Or Willow… oh. “Ah… we do have a priest, right? Not a wiccan?”

“Willow insists on blessing the union. For good luck,” Alexis said, without looking up from her catalogue of… seats?

“Ah.” For a man who had been married twice already, this was certainly a novel experience, Rick thought. “Is there any reason why we can’t… outsource this planning? There are professional wedding planners, you know. I think I even know one.” Four pairs of eyes stared at him as if he had said the dumbest thing ever. “Just… throwing the thought out, you know.”

“Out in the trash,” Vi said. “A wedding planner wouldn’t know the first thing about the demonic side of the wedding.”

“Demonic side?” Just who was going to attend his wedding?

“Security against demons,” his slayer clarified. “Although we’ll need special accommodations for Spike as well.”

Rick would have said that the Vampire didn’t need any special treatment, and would better not attend at all, but the smile on his daughter’s face made him swallow that remark. He could learn, after all.

“And we need to ensure that there’s no silverware that could hurt Oz,” Alexis added.

“A vampire and a werewolf attend a wedding… is it just me, or does this sound like a joke?” Rick asked, rhetorically of course.

“Cheer up, Rick - imagine my father meeting them,” Kate pointed out.

“Oh!” Maybe he would get to enjoy his wedding, after all.

*****​

 

New York, April 2010

“There are so many British guests, I wonder why no one has yet suggested that we hold the wedding in the United Kingdom.” Richard Castle commented - not complained - when he went over the guest list, which apparently had updated in his absence, before setting it down on the couch table.

“Well, it was considered, actually.”

“What?” He stared at his daughter, who was fiddling with the TV remote. “I was kidding!”

“Well, security would have been much easier if we held the wedding in Britain.” Alexis glanced at him and smiled weakly.

“I’m glad that common sense has prevailed. To marry in Britain… people would think I’m either mad, or pretentious!” Rick shook his head.

“Well… I think that it was mostly the opportunity of another trip to New York on the Council’s expense that doomed the proposal.” Alexis looked rather embarrassed. As she should be, Rick thought. Better the council than him, though. -Buffy probably had her own entry in Gucci’s annual report.

“You know, I’m actually glad I spent a few weeks on tour, promoting my book. I got to miss all of that.” He shook his head. “Although the demon hideouts Vi and I ferreted out while travelling would have been a great opportunity to relieve some of the stress this whole wedding planning is causing me.”

“Technically, you’re not planning much,” Alexis pointed out.

“Technically, I am not allowed to plan much, or anything at all” he shot back. “Every decision is being taken for me.” He blinked. “Come to think of it - it’s as if I’m already married!”

“Dad! If we came to you with every decision, you’d be complaining about no one being able to think for themselves.” Alexis was frowning at him. “And some of your ideas were, frankly, ill-thought-out.”

He frowned. “‘Ill-thought-out’? Did you talk too much with Mary again?”

“Dad!”

He raised his hands. “Sorry!” He wasn’t going to be the father trying to poison his daughter’s mind against his ex-wife. Mary could do that all by herself. Or should, at least! Oh. He checked the list again. “Mary’s coming too?” He didn’t yell; a testament of his iron self-control.

“Of course.” Alexis looked at him as if that was self-evident. “Mum and Kate get along well.”

“And there are some divorced dads who complain about their new girlfriend not liking their ex-wife…” He sighed.

“Dad!” Alexis glared at him.

“Sorry, sorry! It’s just - if your ex-wife is understanding, and all, then that’s…” Worrisome. An ill omen. Time to look for the dagger aimed at your back. “…weird.”

“Well, I like that Mum and Kate get along well.” Alexis sniffed. “It’ll make family gatherings much more agreeable!”

“You don’t want me to reconsider my decision, do you?” He mock-glared at his daughter.

“No, Dad. If that was the case I’d talk about inviting Gina.”

He shuddered. “The anti-demon wards should keep her out.”

“Dad!”

“Sorry! No joking about my second wife’s inexplicably present soul, I know.”

“Not that! We can’t have anti-demon wards! Spike’s attending, remember?” His daughter was glaring at him again.

“I had successfully suppressed that.” He sighed. More seriously, he asked: “But, I just realised - I didn’t ask you if you were OK with me marrying Kate.”

“I told you you could date her. That implies that marriage is on the table as well,” Alexis stated.

“You could have changed your opinion, after getting to know her better.” Unlikely, since Kate was a great woman, but… he had to ask.

“If I had changed my opinion, I’d have let you know. And her. Just like with Gina.”

He winced. “I had successfully repressed that as well.” That hadn’t been a fun time. At all.

Alexis proud smile was more than a bit evil, in his opinion.

*****​

“It’s right down here, just follow me!” Richard Castle entered the bullpen of the 12th Precinct and went straight to the break room, waving at the four burly men carrying heavy boxes to follow him.”

“Castle?”

He turned around. Kate was standing there, in her sharp suit. She was smiling, tough looking a bit confused - but she was calling him ‘Castle’ and not ‘Rick’. “Ah, I’m back from my tour!”

“I can see that. I can also see four delivery men with you.” Her smile grew a bit thinner.

“Ah, them, yes.” He smiled widely. “I’ve found the solution to the coffee problem!” He gestured at the break room. “Just go on and install it, I’ll be right with you!”

“Castle!”

He turned back to her. “I decided to buy an old fashioned coffee maker - but a high-end one!” Meant for a café, actually. “And it comes with a two year’s supply of coffee!” He beamed at her.

“You decided?” There went the eyebrows.

“Well… the captain gave tacit approval when I mentioned my plans to replace the coffee maker.” He cleared his throat.

“When was that?” she snapped.

“Last year?”

“Castle! You can’t just barge in here and replace our coffee maker!”

“I just did,” he pointed out. “And trust me, no one will complain once they have had a taste of this great coffee!” After a year, he knew the staff well enough.

And so did Kate, judging by her sigh. In a lower voice, she asked: “Is this your way to protest your lack of input in the wedding planning?”

“No!” he said firmly and convincingly. “I’ve been planning to replace this crime against nature for months! It has soiled my breaks for the last time!”

She didn’t look too convinced, though, but at least she laughed at his comment. “Seriously, how are you holding up? I have to confess that your family’s zeal is impressive.” Meaning, it would scare lesser people than Kate.

He sighed. “They mean well. All of them. I think.” He wasn’t quite certain about Spike’s offer to organise the band. It had been shot down, anyway - Oz would cover that. And probably perform. He smiled at her. “As long as we get married, you and me, I don’t care about the details.”

It was sappy, but true. And he was certain that if they weren’t standing in the middle of the bullpen, she would have kissed him right then and there.

*****​

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

Richard Castle looked up from where he was writing the last part of his report of his ‘tour’ for the Council. His mother was standing in the doorway of his office, looking at him with an earnest expression.

“If that question is related to my earlier outburst, rest assured that was simply my frustration about the deadlock regarding the flower arrangements being voiced a bit too strongly.” Who would think of combining orange and white like that? The gate would have been mistaken for a traffic signal!

She sighed. “Kiddo, I know you. I’m your mother, even if in the past, I might not have always acted like it. If you’re talking like Rupert, you’re not happy. Or you’re drunk, and you’re not drunk. I hope so, at least.”

He considered denying it, but his mother was more perceptive than she usually acted. So he sighed. “I’m just…” Anxious? Afraid? “...slightly worried how much this wedding seems to resemble my first.” Where he hadn’t had much to say either, apart from ‘I do.’ And he wasn’t sure if they would have listened to him if he had said ‘no’.

“What you’re actually worried about is whether this marriage might fail, like your first marriage did.” His mother shook her head. “You shouldn’t be, by the way.”

“And why do you think that?” That was good to hear, but he hoped she had based her statement on more than ‘a woman’s intuition’.”

“Remember what I told you about Mary? That she was an ambitious woman who ultimately couldn’t stand that you became both a renowned Watcher and a famous author while she was still being encouraged by her parents to become a housewife?”

“Bestselling author, too.” He nodded. “Yes, I remember.”

“Kate didn't know you before you were successful. If she resented you for that, she would have never started a relationship with you, much less agreed to marry you. And she’s a police detective, while you’re a civilian.”

“Civilian consultant,” he corrected her.

“Officially, you’re an author looking for inspiration for his next book. That’s no career in the police.”

He pouted, but had to agree with her. “But what if she decides that hunting demons is more important than hunting criminals, and quits the force to join the Council?” He had seen the signs, too - she was considering it. The relative lack of paperwork and regulations held a lot of appeal.

“Oh, Richard! In that case, you’ll have to get used to the fact that your wife will soon outrank you.” His mother smiled wickedly at him.

Rick gaped, not certain if she was kidding or not. Or if he should be happy or insulted at the insinuation. He settled for happy. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, kiddo.” His mother waved at him in that lazy manner of hers, and stepped out of his office.

And he went back to his report detailing why the Council had to reimburse that Ice Cream vendor since Vi had had to appropriate his wares to subdue that fire elemental in Phoenix.

*****​