Castle Ficathon

Chapter 8

By: Oliviet   

Captain Beckett: Spectre Chapter Eight: Geth On Ice Planet Noveria https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11961456/8/Captain-Beckett-Spectre

What You Wanted 

“What may be broken to you is beautiful to me.” 4x01 AU: Sometimes you don’t have to runaway to find what was meant to be… *2016 Summer Ficathon* 

Thanks @dinoscully for the cover art. xoxo

Chapter 7

Kate didn’t get the opportunity to even think of what the tape might be.  She had enough time to look at the date written on the top of it, January 2nd, her mother’s distinct, curlycue number two a dead giveaway that it was hers, most likely stashed in the elephants for safekeeping.  But before she had an opportunity to react or plan her next move, McNulty had come around the corner, waving at her children, and telling her to get ready to go.

Her husband seemed to react faster than her, grabbing her wrist as she braced it on her armrest.  “Kate, are you okay?”  His blue eyes flicked back and forth between hers, his brow creased with concern.

She offered him a small smile, hoping to reassure him.  “Yeah, Rick.  I’m fine.  It’s probably just a piece of evidence from one of her cases.”

His eyes narrowed as she said that, his arms wrapping around the six month old as she passed him off.  “You don’t really think that, do you?”

Her lips brushed against her son’s temple, her fingers working to untangle his hands from her hair.  “It’s what I need to believe right now.”  She dropped to her knees, pulling a still upset Alexis from the chair and into her arms.  “Honey, please don’t feel bad.  They just slipped right off your dress.  Daddy will get them fixed for me.”  Pulling away, she wiped the tears from her oldest’s cheeks with her thumbs and offered her a much more convincing smile.  “Accidents happen.  It’s okay.”  As Alexis sniffled, nodding silently, Kate pulled Carrie close, adding her to the embrace.  "Thank you both for my extra bag.  I’ll see you when you get home from school tomorrow, and I’ll be home all weekend long.“

"A whole weekend?”  The brunette’s eyes grew with joy as she pulled out of the group hug.

“Yes, Bean.  Saturday we’ll do something fun as a family, and Sunday we’ll go out so Dad has time to write.”  While she was down, she slipped the tape into the side pocket of her bag, hoping that with it out of sight, her head might start quieting.

Chapter 6

Putting Oliver down for a nap should be an Olympic sport.  From walking around in circles, bouncing him until he calmed, to the rocking motion of Rick’s body, and the mental focus needed to not break down in tears with his screaming son, he always felt like he was getting a workout.  This time was almost worse.  With two more bodies being found with the same MO, Kate had been working overtime, to hunt down every possible lead.  Oliver missed his mother.  So did the girls, who grew antsier each day Kate couldn’t make it home before bedtime.

It took about a half hour to get Oliver settled enough to put him down, making sure he wouldn’t wake up during the transfer from chest to crib.  He startled as he was shifted, his face wrinkling and hands coming up to his head.  But once he’d settled, Rick pumped his fist in the air, a silent cheer, and began to tiptoe out of the room.

But it seemed that fate had a different plan that day, one that involved his oldest running down the hallway at top speed, shouting as she came, unaware of the struggle he’d just endured.  “Dad!  It’s the last day before my spelling test, I need you to go over words with me!”

Of course, her thundering feet only startled his son, who woke with a strangled cry once he realized he was no longer being held.  Alexis’ eyes grew wide in the doorway, her frame shrinking as she realized what was happening.  “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“Alexis!”  Rick snapped.  "There’s a baby in the house now.  I need you to try to be quieter every once in a while.“

As he lifted his son, he watched his oldest’s frame shrink some more, her face wincing as he shouted.  "I know, I said I was sorry.”

Chapter 7 

By: Oliviet  

The Wedding Date

Her best friend was getting married, and Kate Beckett needed a date. What she got was more than she bargained for. Caskett AU meeting. Based on the movie of the same name. Castle Summer 2016 Ficathon Entry. Rated T.

Chapter 11

PREVIEW:

Such a Happiness

Chapter 12

Photographer Kate Beckett and aspiring novelist Rick Rodgers are perfectly content in their solitary lives. But it’s only after an unlikely matchmaker conspires to have them meet that they realize how extraordinary their lives could become. A Castle AU for Summer @castleficathon 2016 co-written by @airbefore and myself.

Chapter 5

Kate’s investigation petered out after her interview with Alonzo Cortes.  Rick knew it hadn’t amounted to anything as soon as she got home that night, the frustration etched into the lines of her face.  She snuck upstairs to give their already sleeping girls a goodnight kiss, helped him get Oliver down because he wasn’t as successful the second night, and poured herself a large glass of wine.  She sat with it on the couch, her head thrown back in defeat, her eyes closed to block out the world around her as she thought.

Rick sat down next to her, his fingers playing with the ends of her hair, his eyes studying the tension on her face.  “What if your suspect has an evil twin?”  Her mouth twitched, just a hint of a smile forming, spurring him on.  “And that evil twin really wants to take over his life, so he sets Alonzo up to take the fall!”  At this, her eye popped open, just one.  Green with flecks of gold studying him, trying to gauge how serious he was.  “And as soon as Alonzo is taken down, he’ll swoop in, making nice with Alonzo’s wife, bonding with his children, taking over the business, being a better Alonzo than the real one would ever be!”

Her eyebrows arched, her face a mixture of disbelief and amusement as she rose her head to look at him.  Her mouth was pursed as she figured the best way to respond, and her hand reached for his and held on tight.  “Babe.  You’ve got all these crimes running around in your head, crimes that you write about and actually make them sound convincing, and the best you can come up with for my case is ‘evil twin’?”

“Kate, it’s a concept that has been around for ages.  The fear had to come from somewhere.”  Her eyes rolled in that spectacular way that seemed to be only reserved for him, so he took the opportunity to reel her in now that he had her listening, hoping to bring some sort of joy and happiness to her day.  “Besides, how long has it been since someone had a real-life evil twin?  Law of averages would suggest that it should probably happen again in the near future.  Why not this case?”

“Rick!”  Her voice was sharp and exhausted, and the hint of her smile had disappeared.  “He had a pretty solid alibi.  Don’t you think an evil twin would have at least tried to make sure that Alonzo was in the same state?”

This made him pause.  Because of course it made sense.  If Alonzo number two wanted to frame Alonzo number one, making sure Alonzo number one didn’t have an alibi would be high on his list of priorities.  “Out of state?”  Her grimace told him everything he needed to know.  “And I guess it checked out?”

And the canon-sticking part of the story is now fully online. From now on, it’s all AU.