The Worst Possible Time

A twist on Beckett's interrupted confession at the end of season two.

Kate Beckett is giddy. Her whole body feels light, as if she tossed aside an enormous weight she didn't know she was carrying.

She's attracted to Richard Castle. She has a crush on him, one of those crushes that has her smiling for no reason now that she's finally acknowledged her feelings.

The last time she felt this way, she was thirteen, but she's pretty sure even that first crush can't compare to this one. At thirteen, her crush was a nebulous, new thing, less about the boy and more the newness of attraction. It was her first brush with hormones and the possibility of love. With the benefit of hindsight and experience, Kate recognizes that that boy was more a convenient target than an intended one.

Richard Castle is different. She knows him. Knows his quirks, knows how deftly he can get under her skin. Knows his sordid history, one littered with women, including two ex wives.

She also knows what a good father he is. How trustworthy he is. How smart and caring. How he pays attention to the little details, like how she likes her coffee and whether someone is right or left handed.

She has a crush on Richard Castle because she knows him for his good and bad parts. She knows the warnings that come with him, and she's willing to risk it. She is not merely admitting to this attraction. She's going to act on it. Now. Tonight.

Kate touches up her nude lipstick. For once, she wishes she had a more exciting color at work. Not red but something warm and pink and feminine.

Given her plans to confess her attraction to Castle, she should have a lipstick color more exciting than beige. She wants her lips to look kissable at the moment his face lights up as he realizes he's getting what he wants. She expects that warmth, that smile to help her push through her fear and ask if the invitation to the Hamptons still stands.

Kate wants to go to the Hamptons, but beyond that, all she sees is a question mark. She both knows and doesn't know what she wants next. Half of her wants to spend the weekend naked in his bed, attempting to catch up on months of sexual tension. Another part wants to take it slow, trust that this is only the first of many weekends in the Hamptons and there's no rush.

The odd part is, Kate's more concerned about the former happening. Much as she wants to rip off his clothes, Richard Castle is different than the men who came before him. She's never felt this way before, and there's a good possibility something like this will never come her way again. She wants to savor each moment, doesn't want to miss anything, even as she yearns for all of him.

Kate looks in the bathroom mirror one more time. She fiddles with her hair, tucks more of it behind her ear. She's glad there are so few women who work on the homicide floor. She doesn't want to explain preening in front of a mirror to anyone.

She's stalling. She's giddy, but she's stalling.

She pictures Castle's smile, the broad one that shows his laugh lines. She's loves that smile, a combination of little boy impish and maturity. It's Richard Castle in a nutshell.

That image steels her resolve. She heads for the conference room.

When Kate asks to speak with Castle, a bubble of nervous energy explodes in her stomach. Her entire body feels zapped by a live wire, ready to shake apart.

She looks at Castle, calm, reliable Castle. He is reliable. That's one of the things she focuses on when he annoys her.

"What's up?" he asks when they step out into the empty bullpen. It's the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and no one is here who doesn't absolutely have to be here.

This is it. This is her moment. "Look, I know that I'm not the easiest person to get to know, and I don't always let on what's on my mind. But this past year, working with you, I've had a really good time."

He agrees with her, but her stomach twists. The hard part is on deck, and she's terrified. All of her giddiness has fled the scene.

Kate looks down and finds an interesting spot on the floor. "So I'm just – I'm just – " No. She needs to look at him, because that's the only way she'll be able to say what she needs to say. She looks up, but his face is shuttered, closed.

Oh God. She misread something. She misunderstood him. Her heart free falls into her feet.

"Demming."

Kate frowns. "Demming? Castle – "

"Detective, could I have a word?"

Kate turns, and there's Demming. Standing behind her, his expression neutral.

Her ex-boyfriend of all of an hour and change just walked in on her about to confess her feelings for Castle. Kate feels sick with it, because Demming doesn't deserve to have this thrown in his face.

Bad as she feels for the other detective, he really does have lousy timing. Kate does her best to smile and be professional. This awkwardness between them, this is why she avoided dating cops before him. "Sure."

Kate turns to Castle. She hates the frown on his face. "I really do need to talk to you, Castle, but – "

"You need to talk to Demming. I get it. Go." His voice is monotone, deep but flat, lacking the normal undertone of misbehavior.

Castle walks back into the conference room. Kate wants to follow, to finish explaining, to see his face light up like she planned.

Instead she turns to Demming.

"Tom, what's up?"

He looks uncomfortable. He looks so uncomfortable, and Kate can't blame him. She has no idea how much he heard, how much he put together from the available evidence. He's a good cop. That's part of what attracted her to him. He's good at connecting the dots, at figuring out the whole story, and Kate hates to think of what the dots tell him now.

If only 'it's not you, it's me' weren't such a trite phrase. In this case, it really is the truth.

"You were the lead detective on the Esau Rodriguez case."

It takes Kate a moment to place the name. It was one of her final B.C. (Before Castle) cases. "Yes. Why?"

"We've been keeping tabs on a second-hand jewelry store over on 86th for a couple of weeks following reports that they're trafficking stolen goods. This morning, we got some needed evidence and a tip that something big was going down this weekend. There was a raid this afternoon. Brady thinks one of the pieces might be from the Rodriguez case."

"One of Esau Rodriguez's missing rings?"

"Think so, but it'd be nice to have someone who worked on the original case check it out." Demming is everything professional, but Kate knows him. His eyes are shuttered, and his tone stiff. "I'm headed over to the shop in about five."

"Yeah, of course. Let me tell Montgomery. I'll meet you down in robbery."

Demming nods and walks away. Kate briefly watches him, admires how he stands tall even though his gaze is sad.

She hates hurting him. Tom is one of the good guys. He's just not the right guy.

She looks over at the conference room. Everyone's laughing. Based off gestures, Kate guesses Ryan and Espo are telling the story of their first day as partners. Her eyes drift to Castle. He's smiling and laughing, but there's a stiffness in his posture, something she's seen too much lately.

He doesn't know she isn't with Demming anymore. She didn't have time to tell him.

"And what were you and the good detective discussing?" Lanie asks with a raised eyebrow when Kate opens the door.

"A case. Looks like they found Esau Rodriguez's missing rings." Kate shifts uncomfortably. "Since I was the lead detective on his case, robbery's asked me to check them out."

"Looks like you're never off duty for long," Castle says with a biting undercurrent.

Kate has so much to say to Castle, but there's no time and too many people. Instead she smiles at him, hopes to revive some of the earlier revelry. "Don't worry, Castle. I'll be quick. I know how dangerous it is to leave you unattended for long."

Espo and Ryan chuckle, but Castle doesn't rise to the bait. He looks up at her, his eyes shadowed. "Have a good summer, Beckett."

Kate works her jaw, wanting to find a way in one sentence to say what she had expected to take paragraphs. She comes up empty. "You too, Castle."

"Keep me updated on the rings, Detective," Montgomery says.

"Will do, sir."

Kate leaves. With any luck, she can be back within an hour. The sooner she gets back, the sooner she can explain to Castle why she hopes to have a good summer.

Beckett stares at the display case. "You didn't tell me there were this many rings."

Her plans for a quick onceover vanished once she saw the rows and rows of rings. And not just rows: some rings are dumped into bowls, glass vases, even a small fish tank.

The entire store is jammed pack, full of not just earrings and rings but cast offs of all types. Antique art deco lamps sit on top of scuffed gold-gilt mirrored tables from the '80s. Bronze statues cover a black side table with paint chipping off from the Mexican-inspired floral pattern.

Demming chuckles dryly. "I didn't know. This is my first time down here too."

Kate's eyes drift over the variety of styles crammed together: Victorian next to modern next to straight-up gaudy. "This is going to take your guys weeks to sort through. I'm remembering why I didn't go into robbery."

"And here I thought it was your obsession with the macabre."

Kate smiles, glances up at him. Their eyes meet. It's warm and familiar.

Tom is handsome and sweet. If not for Richard Castle, Kate can easily picture a different life. One with a weekend at a beach house in Asbury and teasing Tom about how much he loves coaching youth basketball, even as she goes to the games whenever she can and cheers for him. One with more nights like last week, when they curled up together on his couch and discussed their current cases.

Tom is one of the good guys. He deserves someone who wants to be with him for more than being a good guy, someone as crazy about him as Kate is about Castle.

Demming looks away suddenly, and Kate hates how his eyes go dark. "Already planning on bringing a specialist in after the holiday. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these pieces no longer have the original stones."

"Then why keep the originals?" Beckett needs to focus on the job and the case in front of them. Their parting is still new enough that it's easy to fall back into their patterns as a couple.

Demming waves a hand. "Pretty settings. Place was known to do a good trade in costume jewelry."

"I had no idea you were such an expert in jewelry."

There's another flash of something in Demming's eyes. Kate belatedly considers that maybe teasing the guy she just dumped about his taste in jewelry isn't the best way to keep things light.

There's no way for this to not be awkward. For Demming's sake, Kate needs to figure out how to make her exit as quick as possible.

He shifts his feet and motions to a ring on the top of the display case. "This is the ring Brady recognized."

Kate picks up the ring and angles it to check for the coiled writing inside the ring. "Yeah, this is it. It's a distinctive piece. And the engraving is here. 'Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?'"

"You can read that?"

"It was a key part of the murder investigation. His mistress carved it into his chest after she shot him."

Demming's eyebrows raise. "I can see how that detail would stick in your head."

Kate grins. "That's not even – "

The echo of a scuffle outside draws their attention. Kate's hand drifts to her gun. She starts to take a step forward, but Demming puts a hand out and steps first. It bothers Kate until she remembers this is a robbery case. That gives him the right to lead.

"You cannot enter here, sir! Step away from the door!" Beckett recognizes the reedy tenor of the young officer guarding the entrance.

Demming glances at her in silent communication. They move forward as one, guns out but trained down. Shouting echoes from the sidewalk as Demming and Beckett weave through the scattered hodgepodge of furniture. The officer, who Kate had thought looked like he had just shaved for the first time, cycles through the normal warnings that are straight out of the Academy. Another man yelling: you can't prevent me! It's my business!

Tom is nearly at the door when the gunshot rings out.

Adrenaline kicks into high gear. Guns drawn, Demming and Beckett dash out onto the sidewalk. The young officer is on the ground. Kate looks down the sidewalk to see an average-sized man sprinting away.

Demming is already calling for back up when Beckett says, "I got him."

She takes off after the suspect. It's odd to only hear her footsteps. She's grown used to the echo of Castle's footsteps trailing hers. No time for that now. She can think about the summer without her shadow later.

Her gaze never wavers from the man running ahead of her. She catalogues every possible detail about him, searches for some unique identifying characteristic. The suspect has yet to even turn around, and as it is, the NYPD can't exactly issue a BOLO for a man of medium height with brown hair wearing jeans and a black jacket.

Beckett's running flat out, and while she's pretty quick, he's faster. He also has a lead. Beckett begins to accept there's a good chance she won't catch him.

As if summoned, a cruiser appears out of nowhere and slams to a stop at the intersection. The suspect hesitates, spins and begins to run back toward Beckett. Like the rest of him, his face is unremarkable.

The man has her entire attention. Out of the corner of her eye, Beckett sees two uniforms jump out of the car, yelling as pedestrians scatter. The suspect raises his gun, aims it at nothing particular. The two uniforms are running after him and have a better chance at nabbing him than Beckett does

Time slows as Beckett switches to a walk and aims at the suspect. She shots the standard warnings as she closes in on him. Around her, bystanders panic and scramble to get out of the line of fire. People shout to each other, and Beckett does her best to block out the surrounding chaos.

The suspect weaves through the crowd, using bystanders as a sort of moving shield. Kate's not confident she can get off a shot without injuring an innocent. The uniforms are almost on their suspect. Kat continues shouting her litany – police, put down the weapon, don't shoot – when the boom of a gunshot rolls down the street.

TBC

Author's Note: Thanks for the incredibly warm welcome to the Castle fandom. I was delighted with the reaction to The Subway Thief, and I hope this one is similarly enjoyable. My current plan is to update this story once a week.