Double Up

Chapter 42

Chapter 42

"I'm sure you're waiting to say something to me"

Castle nodded no.

"So you're going to give me the silent treatment?"

"What? No?" he panicked. "I just... I say a lot of rubbish and I've made a lot of mistakes"

"Apparently, I'm just like that too" she looked at him.

"Sweetie, I'm sorry for the way I reacted earlier. I wasn't thinking and it was completely irrational of me to stop you from going to the prom"

"Thank you dad."

Castle nodded.

"Dad?"

"Hmmmm"

"I could do with that hug now"

he smiled a bit and immediately put his arms around her and pulled her to him. And she hugged him tight.

"Dad..." her voice was breaking "I didn't mean it when I said I hate you."

Castle's arms wound tighter around her subconsciously

"I hated myself for saying that to you. I know you were just trying to protect me from this"

"no. no... Don't. You have every right to hate me. Because what I was doing was not protecting you. I was holding you back from growing up."

"Nevertheless, I don't hate you dad. I love you. You're the only man I know who won't break my heart"

Castle kissed the top of her head. "You got that right princess. I'm sorry you're hurt. He's a douche to have let you go"

just then Kate walked back to them and said

"that was your school principal"

"What did he want?" Jo asked.

"Your brother got into a fight with Danny. The principal himself had to intervene to push them apart before they injured each other badly"

"Oh my god" Jo exclaimed. Not sure how to feel about this.

"So one of the chaperones is dropping Nate home now. And he's been given a warning. That if he resorts to such behaviour again, he'll be suspended." Kate explained.

"So that's where he disappeared off to" Castle exclaimed.

"He did that for me, even after I yelled at him and accused him wrongly." She said to herself.

"You two never fail to surprise me" Kate said.

"You're not going to yell at him for this are you?" Jo asked her mom.

"Nope" Castle said.

"What do you mean no? Castle he hit another boy!" Kate exclaimed.

"The same boy who broke her heart" Castle pointed out.

"Rick, I can see why it's justified to you. But as good as his motivation was, it was not something he's allowed to do. He still needs to be punished for that"

Just then they heard the front door open and close.

"He's home" Jo said. And right enough, a few seconds later, he was at her door, leaning against the door frame.

"okay, so I'm sure Principal Matthews already called you up, just tell me how long I'm grounded for so I can plan my schedule accordingly and let's get this over with"

"a month" Kate said.

"Okay. Done" he walked away to his room.

"Nate, need some help with cleaning up those wounds on your forehead?"

"Yea, I could use a hand" he called out in reply.

"I'll go see to him. You alright?" she asked Jo.

"I'll be fine. My dad's with me." she said and smiled at her dad who was still holding her close.

"I'm not saying what you did today was okay," Kate spoke to Nate while cleaning up the blood from his forehead, "But you stood up or your sister and that makes me proud"

"He broke her heart"

"I know. You're a good brother."

He chuckled. "We're twins mom. There's no one who cares about her the way I do. I couldn't bear to see her cry the entire way back, and she just wouldn't tell me why. And it was killing me"

Kate put a band aid on his head then and kissed him there. "She loves you. No matter what"

He nodded.

"How did the rest of your evening go?"

A huge smile donned his face.

"I take it you and Leila had a great time"

"She's amazing."

"I can see it in your eyes when you talk about her. You care about her a lot"

"More than my life" he paused.

"She kissed me tonight, after the last dance, it was pretty out of the blue, and I asked her what that was for"

Kate was smiling.

"She said it was for showing her what love is."

"You're smitten. You're probably her puppy following her everywhere" Kate teased him.

"Oh come on, you had dad tied around your fingers. She has the same effect on me."

"Touché"

he laughed. "If I learned anything about Love, it's from you and dad"

"You give yourself very little credit."

"Nonsense. The boyish charm is all mine" he teased.

"Keep telling yourself that" she rose to leave with a smirk.

"I'm sure I have my own set of impressive traits"

"Let's leave that to Leila to find out" Kate winked and left his room with a "Goodnight honey!"

And Nate just smiled to himself.