Back and Forth (A Castle Fanfiction)

For You

That night, when Rick walked through the door with a box in one hand wrapped in baby blue and mint green gift wrap with a manilla envelope on top, and a bouquet of lilies with a sky colored bow tied around the plastic covering, his smile couldn't have been brighter. That is, it couldn't have been brighter until he saw his love lying on the couch, tears flowing over her flush lips and she silently stared at the ceiling and tried to maintain her breathing at a normal level. "Kate," he questioned lightly, startling her a bit, launching her into some kind of defense mode as she rose from the couch and wiped her tears away nonchalantly and then forced a smile onto her lips as she acted as though nothing had happened.

"Oh, you're home," she began, "How was the meeting?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied with a smile. "Are- are the flowers for me? They're lovely."

"Come on, Kate, I know you. I'm going to marry you. You can tell me what's wrong," Rick replied a bit more harshly, forcing his wife to stop slightly moving forward and bit back on her lower lip. She then adjusted herself in place. She fought between two instincts, one of fear telling her she couldn't show weakness, the other needing some form of release as she felt as though he heart had once again suffered another break and she once again failed the one person she desperately wanted to hold one last time.

With a breath filling her lungs, raising tensions into her throat, she struggled with herself, fighting against her body and trying hard just to keep it together in some way shape or form. She was failing, and she knew it, but she wasn't going to give up. Not until she had to. So, pulling in a struggling whiff of air, she forced out the words, "I- I lost- her ring." As she spoke, a tear slipped down her cheek, but she continued to fight to hold back the rest.

For him, guilt stormed his body and flooded his heart. She was in so much pain, and it was entirely his fault. Instantly, he took steps toward her, dropping the flowers and the box on the table before quickly pulling her into her arms where her walls finally came crashing down and her ocean of tears broke free in a pair of painful gasps and then moaning aches. With his arms around her, holding her close, he told her softly, "Sh, Kate, no. You- you didn't lose the ring. It's alright. Just- breathe. It's alright."

"It's gone, Rick," she wept.

"No. No, I- It's not gone, sweetheart. it's not gone."

"What do you mean," she asked with aggravation, pulling away from the writer.

He sighed, "I wanted to do something special for you, and I knew you wanted to put it on a chain, so-..." He paused a moment, turning to lift the box from the table, and stripping away the mint ribbon and wrapping paper. He then held out the box and pulled the smaller velvet box off the top of a pile of papers. Lifting the lid, he revealed to her a necklace with a silver chain suspending in the center her mother's ring. Holding the ring on either side was a heart shaped holder. On the right heart, a diamond stood as Rick's birthstone, and a topaz colored diamond stood as Kate's. On the left, a ruby birthstone for Alexis, and a small indentation where Rick intended for Henry's birthstone to eventually go. "I thought this might be a nice way to remember your mother."

The young woman swallowed hard, hands shaking as she lifted hers to cup both her fiance's hands and the velvet box. Looking down at the glistening item in the velvet box, her heart swelled as her pain disintegrated and she was suddenly engulfed with relief. A smile dawned over her lips as another pair of tears slipped away and her eyes dashed from the necklace to her lover's eyes. "You did this for me?"

He let a bashful smirk onto his lips. "I'd do anything for you."

She pulled at her lips with contemplation and then decidedly rose up on the balls of her feet to lay a peaceful kiss on his cheek. She then lowered herself back to the ground and told him, "You're amazing, you know that?"

"You make me want to be," he replied. Her smiled lifted.

She then allowed her eyes to wander as thoughts came about her brow. "So, ah... what are the papers about?"

"Oh," he said, rushing to slip the manila envelope off the table and hand it to her. "They're an extension of this."

Her eyes scanned the envelope as she took it from him before she looked back up to his mischievous eyes and unraveled the twine holding the thing shut. It wasn't until she had the papers in her hand that she finally understood. The official Stanford University letter read in its first few lines:

Katherine Beckett,

Upon reviewing your academic achievements, speaking with those who vouched for you, and hearing of your past year as a reference to everything you have been able to overcome, we hereby submit that you have more than earned the right to lenience due to the medical complications you now face. Each of your teachers has agreed that you have proven your worth in class and have a bright future ahead of you which they would hate to see stalled by unavoidable circumstances. Therefore, we certify that your advocate, Richard Castle will be allowed to record classes on your behalf, and act as a middle party in giving you your tests and turning in your assignments under the conditions that follow.

Here, Kate stopped reading and allowed her eyes to scroll to the bottom of the page where three of the school's highest standing administrators and each one of her five teachers had signed on their appropriate lines. Rick's signature on the bottom right line caught her eyes, and to the right of it, a blank line waited for her signature as an agreement to the conditions listed below. Once again, Kate was shocked. "Is this- is this real?"

"After hearing everything that you've been through in the past year and looking at how hard you've worked and what kind of work you've done outside of the classroom, it took five minutes for the last man to sign. You've earned this, Kate. This, and so much more."

The woman smiled up at the man whose hand had, at some point, drifted upward, one to her cheek, and the other to her upper arm, caressing her skin. She smiled gently in that moment, and raised one hand to cup his against her cheek, kissing the edge of his palm as she looked into his yes. Her hands then moved, quickly wrapping around his neck as she looked away with playfulness in her eyes as she toyed, "You know, I'm going to have to make this up to you, and, uh... being stuck at home now, I- I can think of only one way to do that."

His brow rose as excitement filled him. "Really? Well, Ms. Beckett, I wouldn't say you have to make this up to me, but-... if you really wanted to, I guess I couldn't stop you."

The young woman then bit at her lip, once again rising slightly on her toes as she leaned up toward his ear and whispered, "Come on, Cowboy. Let's get started."

Minutes later, the two were tangled up in each other's arms on the couch with the sound of "Star Wars: A New Hope" playing in the background as they began their movie marathon.