The Good and The Bad (A Caskett Story)

Chapter 17

"Where is this again?" Castle asked as he helped her out the door.

"Um, Remy's," she said in the hallway and turned to him.

"Okay, see you later. Love you," she smiled and kissed him one more time, this time letting it linger.

"Bye, love you too," he watched her as she walked off into the elevator.
xxx
"Hey Katie," Johanna greeted from the booth she was sitting in. She stood up and gave Kate a hug.

"Hi," they sat down and a waitress came over

"Hi, what can I get you to drink?" she asked politely.

"Um, just a water, thank you," Kate smiled at the short, skinny blonde and turned to Johanna. "So, what do you want to start with?"

"The beginning."

Kate took a deep breath before she started talking, "That night, when you didn't come to the diner, me and Dad went back home. We figured you were there and just forgot about dinner. But once we got there, Detective Ragland was sitting on the front porch. He waited for us to get out of the car and walked over to us. He told us what had happened and I just cried and cried. Dad took me inside and the whole night we cried in each other's arms. And then I finally fell asleep and when I woke up, Dad was drunk. He drank the whole bottle of whiskey, rum, pretty much all the alcohol in the house. He started yelling and I got scared. So I told him to just lay down and that you wouldn't like it if he did this. He fell asleep and in the morning had a very bad hangover. I hated seeing him like that," Kate shook her head and looked down at her hands. A couple tears fell down her cheeks.

"After you had died, I built up this wall. A wall that would push everyone away, including Dad. I quit college and stayed at home with Dad. He became an alcoholic and I had to take care of him. Sometimes he would get aggressive and I would get scared and hide up in my room and cry all the time. I moved out of the house then and Dad went up to the cabin. I told myself that I can't keep living if I would just cry myself to sleep every night, Mom would not like that. So I cleaned up and started going to law school. Originally, I was going to be a lawyer, just like you, but then somehow I became the youngest detective to make the NYPD Homicide.

After that, I started to look into your case. Every single day. I memorized that case file by heart. Knew every single detail. I would always stay late, see if I could find any leads. I never did and then started to drink. I was like dad, get drunk every night, start yelling at people and throw things. And then Dad came to my apartment. He was clean as a whistle. Didn't smell of beer or any alcohol. He said that it had been a year since he last drank and I hadn't seen him in 5 years so I was shocked. He took care of me that night and in the morning. Once I was sober, he gave me his watch telling me that it was the life he saved and gave me your ring saying that it was the life we lost. I wore those things every single day. I stopped drinking then and got it back together. Every year on January 9th, me and him would go to the cemetery and talk to you. I actually would go a lot more then once a year. It was once a month that I went. I think it helped me," Kate took a sip of her water and looked up at her mom. She had tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Katie. I should of never left," Johanna took Kate's hands in hers, rubbing her thumb over her knuckles. "Okay, enough sad talk. I wanna hear about your husband. I've heard you two have been through a lot."

Kate smiled, "Yeah, we have. We've been in so many death situations but we've helped each other out of them. He is always there for me, that's one of the reasons why I love him. When he came-"

"Sorry to interrupt but can I get you guys anything to eat?" the waitress interrupted.

"Um, yeah, actually, just a cheeseburger for me," Kate told the young woman.

"Make that two," she wrote it down on her little book and left with a smile on her face.

"To the very first time he helped us with a case, he's always been there for me. Always been with me even though I wouldn't let him. He helped me break down that wall for four years," she chuckled. "I don't even know how he managed to stay with me all that time. But I'm glad he did. He was the one who made me look back into your case. I was so mad at him but him being Castle, he did it anyway. He found out some stuff and I found Coonan then. We brought him in for questioning and the next thing I knew, he pulled out a gun and I shot him. Never even got to know who sent him to kill you. Almost a year later, Montgomery died in that hangar. I was so angry at Castle for pulling me out of there. I could've saved him. Then at his funeral, I got shot," she smiled slightly.

"Castle tackled me on the ground and that was the first time he told me that he loved me. I knew he did for a long time but hearing him say it made me scared. I didn't know what to do so I lied. I told him I didn't remember anything that day when I remember the whole entire thing. He looked so sad and I wanted to tell him the truth but I was scared. I didn't want to ruin our friendship and I thought that he wouldn't want someone so broken. After I got out of the hospital, Dad took me up to the cabin. I stayed there for three months thinking and crying about him. I wanted to call him but I couldn't. I was scared. Then when I came back, I surprised him at one of his book signings. We talked on the swings afterwards and I told him that I couldn't have a relationship until your case was put to rest and I wasn't so broken. It was so difficult that next year. My PTSD was bad and I started drinking again. And there was Castle, right by my side. Every. Single. Day," Kate sighed and smiled again.

"And then Cole Maddox came along. He almost killed me by throwing me off an apartment building. I called out Castles name and thought I heard him but it wasn't him. It was Ryan and Espo and a very pissed off Gates. That day I quit Homicide. I couldn't deal with the pressure anymore and I went to the park and sat on the swings I talked to him on only a year earlier about our relationship. I thought long and hard about what he had said when I was lying down in the cemetery.  Before I went out to find Maddox, he said that he was done. That he was leaving for good and not coming back and I couldn't live life if he didn't know how I felt. So after the swings I went up to his apartment, knocked on his door and now here we are. Married and thinking about having kids." Kate finished, wiping the last of her tears.

"Wow, that's one hell of a story. I'm glad he kept you alive and happy," Johanna said. She looked over at the front door of the restaurant and saw him. Richard Castle smiling back at her. She smiled back at him. "Speaking of Richard." she nodded her head towards him and Kate's gaze turned to the man walking towards them.

"Hey, I thought you had meetings," Kate greeted as he sat down next to her.

"I went to one and that was hell so I said that you were sick and needed my help so I decided to come help you," he winked at her. She rolled her eyes. The young blonde came back with their food and turned to Castle.

"Your table just keeps on growing!" she said to Johanna, they all laughed. "What can I get yah?"

"I would like some water and a cheeseburger, please," and the waitress left.
{1451 words}

A/N: Aww. What a cute chapter. I think...