CASTLE

Flowers For Your Grave - Chapter 14

Castle sat hunched over a desk at his favorite library which was his very own writer's sanctuary, peering through the case files. He told himself that with the kind of detective that Kate is, he wouldn't last long before she found him. He had to hurry.

"RICHARD CASTLE! You are under arrest for felony, theft and obstruction of justice." yelled Detective Beckett as she banged the library door open and strode towards Castle, two more cops following after her.

She could not believe he had the balls to steal her case files from under her nose. And then she thought he was being sweet. she mentally chided herself for not listening to her gut instinct.

Ha! He knew she'd be here any moment. He slowly turned to look at her with his signature smirk, "You forgot making you look bad." he said as he leaned back in his chair.

She leaned in towards him to look him in the eye, until their faces were inches apart. "You know, for a minute there, you actually made me believe that you were human." she said, narrowing her eyes.

He didn't like the sound of that. Yes, he had "borrowed" the files but he sincerely meant to give her that book. Even if he was the author, he had to argue with his ex-wife and publisher, Gina to let him have an advance copy.

"Cuff him." was all she said to the officers as Beckett stood upright again. 

"Ooh! Bondage. My safe word is 'apples' " he said as the officers took hold of his arms and started to cuff them behind his back. Her own thoughts surprised her as she imagined him actually in handcuffs, only this time he was on her bed and.. Urgh! Stop it Kate.

"Oh, there's no need to be gentle." she said to the officers, completely ignoring his presence.

"How'd you find me anyway?" he asked as the finished cuffing him. He had absolutely no doubt that his mom or his daughter had given away his location.

"I'm a detective. That's what I do." said Kate with one of her brows quirked up. Yes, she called Martha Rodgers, his mum, as soon as she knew the files were missing and explained how her annoying son had stolen important documents. Martha simply sighed and asked her to check the library as she knew her son would have probably run off there.

"My mother told you, didn't she?" he asked but before Beckett could say anything, he was whisked away by the uniformed cops.

Beckett turned to look at the desk atop which the evidence from her case files sat, disarrayed. 

"By the way, the rose petals in the Tisdale murder? They're grandiflora, not hybrid teas." Richard said to her back, straining his neck as far as he could. 

"I'll make a note of that." she said sarcastically rolling her eyes, not bothering to look his way. What difference would the species of the flowers make? 

"Yeah, you probably should, since it means Kyle Cabot is innocent." he said as Beckett immediately turned to look at him, a little too late as the officers escorted him out of the library, leaving her confused.

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Castle stepped out of the elevator of the precinct, the officers finally letting go of his arms and uncuffing him. Thank God, he thought. He could bear those for another second. They didn't hurt as much but his hands were now a little sore. It was all worth it though he said to himself.

He found his mother, daughter, Beckett and Captain Montgomery waiting for him as he walked toward them. "Thank you, officer." said the Captain.

"Hello, father." said Alexis as her father walked up to them. Rick replied "Hello, daughter." as he hugged her.

"I wish I could say I was surprised. It's my fault, really. He never had a father figure." said Martha, twirling her necklace between her fingers as she spoke.

"Oh, that's not true, mother. I had lots of father figures." said Richard, cocking his head to the side. It was indeed difficult for him to grow up without a father but he never let it show. It was one of the reasons why he was such a great parent and shared a strong bond with Alexis.

He continued, "I see you've met Captain Montgomery and detective Beckett.." "And they have agreed to drop the charges if you agree to behave." his mother completed for him.

Captain Montgomery stood there with a stern expression. "No more interference with this case, Mr. Castle. Do we understand each other?" he said pursing his lips. The captain was definitely not amused.

"Yeah. " Richard replied as his eyes traveled behind the captain to look at Beckett who was standing there with a smug expression on her face, clutching those stolen files to her chest.

No sooner than the Captain was out of earshot, Castle looked at Beckett and said,  "But you still got the wrong guy."

Beckett looked at him again and blinked. She had probably never seen him so serious. And didn't she think that Kyle was innocent too? She continued to stare at his back as he draped his arms around the two women in his life and walked back to the elevator.