Castle 1. Love

- a/n: the chapter of a three chapter story. First Castle fic. I don't know how long it'll take me to update. As a dancer, it's all about spring showcase right now, but I'll f'sho try. Feel free to comment! = ]

Love, Drugs and Good Alcohol. 

**Love. **

When did love stop being fairytales and happy endings? When did a love story mean good sex and an unbreakable condom? The honest answer is nobody knows, and Castle certainly didn't. He used to roll his eyes quietly to himself upon exiting Alexis's bedroom after her bedtime story and he would almost chuckle to himself. Love stories were sweet. Sweet like coffee with too much sugar. The bitter aftertaste…the truth that the happily ever after didn't belong to you.

Sometimes, he would flip to the ending of the story, where the two characters finally fall in love and they kiss, and that's happily ever after. Yup, Richard Castle knew all about happily ever afters.

So when he asked Kate Beckett if she believed in happily ever afters she smirked. "Why?" She asked, knitting her eyebrows up quizzically at him. "Just wondering." He shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal, and leaned in just to be a little more annoying. "So?" He pushed, his eyes searching for hers. "What are you Castle, like five," She shoved him lightly on his forehead with her thumb and he winced at the contact of her freezing fingers.

"Can you feel your fingers?" He reached for her hand as she pulled it away, rolling her eyes. "Not really." She replied, rubbing her hands together. They were sitting outside on a street corner, trying to figure out the conditions of being left in the cold weather for this long. He poked at her stomach, only not really. They were actually waiting for the bus…in twenty degree weather. "It's because you have no body fat," he teased. "And you have too much of it." She poked back, and he couldn't help but to smile.

"So does Detective Beckett believe in happily ever afters?" He grabbed her hand and squeezed it while she tried to pull away, "your hand's going to freeze off." He pointed out. She stopped struggling and gave in because his hands were still warm despite the freezing weather. "Everybody believed in happily ever afters a long time ago." She replied, rolling her eyes just like he used to when the princess finally kissed the prince.

"Oh? So you do?" He bit his lower lip. "I don't have time in my life to wait 'til the last page to fall in love." She shrugged. "A kiss isn't good enough Beckett, huh? So what's a happily ever after?" He questioned her jokingly. "You tell me Castle." She centered her eyes on something off in the distance. "You say first." He let go of her hands, and she grimaced at the burning cold that suddenly made contact with her skin.

"You go first; we all know that secretly you're just another hopeless romantic." She smirked at him, almost mimicking his famous smirk he often referred to as a smile. "Same time. Ready?" He licked his lips. "I'm not falling for that one, Castle." She sat on her hands in attempt to keep them warm. "I swear." He raised his eyebrows. "My gosh Castle, I feel like we're in sixth grade." She replied, adjusting her position a little more and removing one hand to look at the what the chair had printed on her hand. He rolled his eyes and took her hand in his again.

"Are you saying I flirt like a sixth grader, I take that as a great offence!" He smacked her arm playfully. "Fine, I'll say it." He said, inhaling the crisp, cold air. "--GOOD SEX--." They both blurted out at the same time. He laughed, not caring that the old man sitting by them turned to look at them, shaking his head as he stood up and walked away muttering something Kate comprehended as; "couples these days."

If that was the happily ever after in Cinderella, maybe Castle wouldn't have rolled his eyes, but obviously it wasn't and it would never be. Sex and love were not the same, and sex; no matter how profoundly good, would never be the real happily ever after. They both knew this. Sex wasn't coffee with too much sugar, it was coffee without enough sugar, and it only tasted sweet the first contact with the tongue, and then the taste dissolved away into pure bitterness.

Even so, coming from them, it was a start, and this happily after sounded damn sweet.


	2. Drugs

**Drugs. **

She arrived at the office on time as usual, her empty mug in her hand, walking in with her police strut as if to make a subtle scene that the best (and hottest) detective in the department was here. Today was different though, she had someone tailing behind her. "Beckett." People from the department called out from the sides, not acknowledging her second shadow.

"Beckett -- who's the second shadow?" Castle called out, obviously being the only person to notice. "Thank you! I was beginning to think that I was invisible or something." Her shadow sighed loudly. Kate Beckett rolled her eyes, "this is Haley," she gestured to the girl with chestnut curls and piercing green cat eyes all ready seated on top of her papers. "Haley, this is Richard Castle"— "Oh the author." Haley cut her off, much to her annoyance.

"I've read couple of your books." She shrugged, and pulled out a black Mac book Air. "So I have readers younger than forty-five" He joked. "Yeah—you have Kate," she smiled a smug smile that Castle recognized as similar to his own. "Oh," He mouthed quietly. "So what's she doing with you; she trying to write a book too?" He bit his bottom lip, a bad habit.

"Hardly." She pushed him aside to get to her desk. "I'm watching her, well teen-sitting her because she got expelled out of boarding school and her parents are in a hearing in England...she will not be gracing their presence…so I have to keep an eye on her at all times…" She grabbed a couple of papers from her desk and sat down in her chair loudly.

"Okay, so when I sit on your desk, you threaten to shoot me, when she sits on your desk you ignore her." She peeked at him over the top of the papers, and said, "trust me, I've threatened to shoot her countless times this past week." She returned her focus to the papers and let Castle wander off to try to connect with the troubled teen.

The work day passed slowly, the cases were boring, dull and tedious, and they no longer fascinated Kate or Castle. Criminals these days were just getting dumber and dumber, even Castle couldn't find a story behind it. They had decided to kill their boredom by looking through old cases that were not yet closed.

Pondering over what might have happened, and suggesting various acts of insane crime. They had left the offices when Haley whined that she was hungry, and she didn't care about people who died 20 years ago. Both Kate and Rick were in the middle of a kidnapping case when her complaining begun to become a form of slows suicide for the listener.

"Fine—let's go to mi casa." Castle gathered up all the files. "No, I think we'll just go"— for the millionth time that day, Haley cut Kate off again, and Kate just reluctantly shut her mouth. "That's a great idea, Katie; we don't want you watching shitty crime shows again tonight." Kate shot her look, and turned to Castle, "is dinner provided?" Haley and she asked at the same time. "My, my, such needy children." He sucked his teeth and wagged his finger for effect.

"Promptly served at nine." He checked his wristwatch, and nodded, turning around on his heels to walk out the door. Haley followed behind, and naturally, Kate attached herself to the girl, and walked along with them almost sulking.

The car ride was like a car ride through the middle of a dark tunnel with a whining six year old on her older brother pinching her every five minutes. Castle being the whining six year old, and Haley being the older brother. After awhile though, a silence racked through the vehicle, and all you could hear was Haley's offbeat clicking of her tongue.

"What would you do if your daughter was on drugs?" Castle randomly asked, either trying to break the silence or seriously pondering over the question. "Why, Castle, it's hard to believe that your daughter is on drugs. Which, may I add, is a good thing." Beckett added her two cents into the conversation before slamming down on the breaks.

Everyone in the car lurched forward, and Haley clicked her tongue again. "My parents didn't do anything." She jumped in, stopping the obnoxious clicking and shrugging her shoulders. "Ever do drugs, Beckett?" Castle asked. "No." She replied strictly. "Not even a little tiniest bit of weed?" He paused, "the truth would be good for the book." He took out his notepad for effect.

"No." She said again, obviously not changing her answer. "I thought I did crazy things, until I met this girl." She glanced back at Haley who was now spaced out, looking contently out the window. "Crazy?" Castle asked, clicking his pen a few a times.

"I almost shot her boyfriend the other night." She said it, though showing no expression. "No, I mean you, crazy?" His eyes popped a bit, and he looked at her, studying the detail of her face. "Stop it, Castle, you're creeping me out." She shot him a quick look, intended to frighten his gaze away.

"Did you strip down into your underwear and run around campus?" He asked, making a list on his notepad. "No." She replied sternly. "Been there, done that." Haley and Castle both said at once. "Ever…" "No." She cut him off mid-sentence. "I tried, don't interrogate her, she gets all grumpy and then she limits me to like ten minute showers -- and if I don't get out of the shower, she turns off the heater for the night; and steals all of the blankets." Haley pouted.

"Never done drugs." He noted it down and put the notepad and pen away. "Do I look like I've ever done drugs to you?" She questioned him. "No…you don't seem like the type. But you know, at parties and stuff." He advert his eyes and looked out into the dark instead.

"I've experimented once." She nodded her head subtly. Castle began to take out his notepad again, but thought better of it. "I had some peer pressure…and friends who had great hook ups." "Didn't like it?" Haley asked from the backseat, now leaning in to hear the conversation better. "It's kind of pointless, you know, everything's so great for this little bit of time…and the bam, reality just kind of feels like shit." She pulled into another narrow unknown street, and Castle hesitated for a brief mille-second.

"Not worth the moment?" Haley asked. "No, not really, and defintley not in the long run. Not worth making a habit." She said. "Why would you want to do that to yourself?" She asked the girl in the back seat. "Because it's much better than reality, and sometimes, in my life especially, reality isn't a fun place to be."

"How do you damn tolerate your life then?" Castle asks. Haley looks at Kate, and Kate says automatically, "good alcohol," "Is that your answer, or hers?" He asked. "Both." Kate replied honestly, and took another sharp turn. "For you, hard liquor." Haley looked at Kate, and Rick made notes in his head, not for the book, but just for his sake.


	3. Good Alcohol

a/n: I've decided to just keep adding to these, with Haley in them, because I really like the character I ended up creating. In a way she's the female version of Castle, only much younger. I think she adds something to the story and we should all have a little bit of her in our lives!

Anyways, enjoy!

Good Alcohol

**Beer: **

Consumed whenever Richard Castle needs something to wash down the days events. The taste simply isn't strong enough for such a situation. The bitter taste was already going down his throat the moment he said, "_It's about your mother._"

He could feel the liquid seeping through the first layer of his thoughts as she turned to him, shocked. "You deserve to know," he said, and at that moment, the feeling vanished from his throat, plainly because just beer wasn't numbing enough.

When he got home, some of the invisible drink returned, cool and slithering down his throat.

"So?" His mother asked upon his arrival into his apartment, feet shuffling and eyes down.

"I don't know, mother. She asked 'why,' over and over again." He replied.

"Did you tell her what you knew?" Martha asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No – I – it was a bad time. I told her to call me if she wanted to know."

"Call you? You told her to call you? What kind of romantic are you?"

"I'm not a romantic, mother, just a friend who ruined a perfectly good friendship."

"Huh, a friend who just spoiled my chance at grandkids." She replied, leaving him to stand in the room, his weight supported by the counter, eyes searching for answers wherever he thought he might find them. He wondered to himself when Alexis would get home. He looked towards the liquor cabinet, and sighed, he would need something much stronger than beer.

**White Russian: **

Vodka is the only drink that could do the job for now. Kate Beckett had been dismayed when he had told her what he did. Her head, prior to the situation, was perfectly clear. Nevertheless, it had begun to swarm, Castle's words being drowned out by the pulsating in the back of her mind.

"Why are you telling me this?" She had asked, trying to restrain herself from breaking down in front of the writer.

"Because you deserve to know." He said, the line that served at his mouth for the moment was pulled tight. His eyes nailed to hers, but she noticed something she didn't expect to see, pain. Wasn't she supposed to be the one hurting? What was he hurting about? Maybe it pained him to deliver this information.

She certainly hoped. She heard the front door open, just as she lifted the bottle up to her mouth to take a swig, waiting for the burning feeling to run down her throat.

**Moonshine:**

Haley's drink of choice, despite the noticeable fact that she was nowhere near the age of twenty-one, it did the job.

She knew that Castle had the file, but she would never tell a soul. She may be a grade "A" bitch, but she wasn't a backstabbing friend. She had gone to see Will in the hospital, partially because she cared, partially because she would probably never see a FBI agent like him in a gown again.

"Aye, Sorenson." She said, walking into the hospital room swiftly.

"Cat woman." He mocked, it was an inside joke.

"Mind if I…take a few pictures." She said, smiling, withdrawing a camera from her pocket.

"I will kill you. Arrest you. Actually." He said, weakly raising his finger at her.

"Was Kate here?"

"Yeah, why?"

"How are things going between you and her?"

"Why do you care, you don't want me to be with her."

"No, I don't, you're right. Did Castle come in here?"

"Not technically. He said he needed to talk to her. Looked as serious as a heart attack."

"Do you know what he was saying?" She sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Nah. I don't have super hearing. But she looked pretty serious, she had that look that she put on whenever people said anything about her mother's murder." He shrugged, grimacing at the pain.

"Why don't you like, Castle?"

"Because he's like the wall between me and Kate!"

"Kate and I" She corrected.

"Whatever."

"Don't you just wanna see her happy?"

"In a sense."

"Then you better talk to writer boy out there, cuz I have a bad feeling he really fucked up." And with that, she turned on her heel and began to leave.

"Hey, I think I just might. Thanks for fucking up any hopes I had left, don't get shot." He joked, and waved her away.

She came home later that night, alone, to find Kate in the kitchen immersed deeply into her thoughts and her drink.

"Kate." She said, waiting for her guardian to respond.

"Haley. Where'd you go?" She asked casually.

"I went over to the hospital to see Will."

"Oh." She replied.

"He told you about the file didn't he?" She said, mixing something in her hands.

"Did you know?"

"Yeah."

"Haley, why didn't you tell me?"

"Would have said it was okay, would you let him look at it? Answer honestly." She had finished mixing and pouring and took a long drink, avoiding Kate's gaze.

"No."

"He risked everything because he cared about you. I wish I had someone like that. I just get guys who risk their girlfriends for a fun night out." With that said, she left, leaving the empty glass on the counter, and Kate alone to evaluate her thoughts.

**Rum & Coke:**

Will Sorenson couldn't drink because he was stuck here in a hospital bed. There was nothing on television. He closed his eyes and imagined himself, alone, with some rum and coke, but his fantasies were frequently interrupted by Haley's words. Annoyed, and trying to get some peace with himself, he summoned the nurse impatiently, and told her to see if a tall guy in a brown jacket with brown hair who had some stubble was standing outside. He mentioned that the guy might be looking grim.

The nursed had returned, cheeks flushed, obviously not wanting him buzzing her frantically again. She had said that there was indeed a man standing outside looking rather paralyzed.

Again, annoyed with the nurse's ignorance, he told her blandly to ask the man to come in. He had added at the last minute the words, "thank you," before sitting back on his pillow again.

"Agent Sorenson." Castle greeted, his voice distant.

"Sit." He motioned over to the vacated chair by the bed.

"I think I'll stand."

"Suit yourself, I heard you really screwed up with Kate tonight."

"Where'd you hear that from?" Castle wondered to himself whether or not Kate had told him

"I have my sources. It wasn't Kate. She would never admit that, to me or to you. Besides she's got Haley at home."

"Haley." Castle said.

"Yeah, she said she had a bad feeling you really fucked up."

"Go and see her. She deserves to know."

"Why do you care what happens between me and Kate?"

"Because I care about Kate. I'm not blind. I might be an FBI agent, but I'm not blind."

"There was no connection between the two, my friend."

"Listen, tell her what happened. She'll cool off, eventually."

"Thanks." Castle said, before turning to leave, considering the agent's advice.

"Writ—Castle!" Will called out after him.

"Yeah?"

"Take good care of her. She's stubborn, but hey, she deserves it. And if it's not gonna be me, I guess she deserves second best." He smirked before closing his eyes and drifting off into sleep.

**The After Effects of Alcohol:**

Castle had taken Sorenson's advice, and stumbled to Kate's apartment sometime in the wee hours of the morning. He knocked on the door three times, and counted each, cursing himself for stupidity each time his knuckles hit the door.

"Castle." Haley had answered, her hair pulled back into a pony tail.

"Is Kate here?"

"Yeah…" She had trailed off.

"Can I come in?"

"I don't know, that depends, she's pretty upset, are you here to upset her more?"

"I never meant to upset her."

"I know that. Come in, but just like count to ten before talking." She said randomly, leading her into the living room where Kate was curled up into a ball on the couch, her eyes glued to the screen.

"Hey." He said gently. "I know that I'm the last person you want to see, but I was hoping that we could talk." He said, trying his best to smile a little. He watched as Kate looked at Haley who bit her lower-lip. She stood up, speechless and walked with him to her bedroom.

"I wanted to explain…" He said, not waiting for her response. By the time he was finished, he could have sworn he was crying. Damn anti-depressants!

"Why could a guy like you just have come along a little earlier in my life." Her voice was barley a whisper.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry if I acted like an ass at all. I was just shocked. I just – I could have spent so many years in peace with myself. Saved so much money on therapy." She tried to lighten the mood a bit.

"You're not mad?"

"A little."

"Oh my gosh, thank goodness." He rushed over and hugged her. "Who talked you out of anger?" He asked, his hands still wrapped around her waist.

"A good friend and an hour of Johnny Depp as a pirate." She smiled a weak smug smile. "And who talked to you out of waiting for me to call?"

"It wasn't a friend." He said, smiling as her hands found their way around her waist.

"Promise to never do something like that again, or else I will shoot you." She said, poking him in the stomach.

"Promise. Like actually. Promise." He said, nodding his head, his cheek rubbing against her soft hair.

"I'm still in need of some pirate." She said, releasing the embrace.

"Oh, well, I guess I'll leave you to your pirates then." He said.

"Hey, you can stay if you want." She said.

"What for?"

"Making up for lost time." She said, referring back to her comment on why he couldn't have turned up in her life earlier.

The effects of alcohol were heavy, because when they returned, Haley was out cold on the couch, hugging the DVD case close to her chest.

It wasn't much later that the two found themselves giving into sleep as well, Kate rested in Castle's strong arms, her head rested square on his chest.

It was sometime around noon the next day when Haley finally woke up…groaning and moaning from the hang over. She smiled though, however, when she saw the two still asleep on the couch, both snoring lightly. Smirking, she ignored her headache, pulled out the camera from her pocket and took a picture.

"Sorenson's going to hate this." She said, before snapping a picture and vanishing out the door.


End file.

Castle, Friendship, Humor