FIC: A Muse Stalks Into A Bar 3/3
Nov. 5th, 2009 07:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
paulacasTitle: A Muse Stalks Into A Bar
Author: YanzaDracan
Fandom: Leverage/Castle
Pairing: Nate/Eliot, Rick/Eliot, Kate
Rating: FRT
Summary: Castle just has to know more about someone with THAT much presence.
http://yanzadracan.livejournal.com/26316.html
Nate and Kate exchanged a look of alarm. Eliot was playing with Castle. Eliot was playing with Castle like a cat plays with a mouse right before the mouse goes from being a toy to being food.
The two kicks the retrievalist received under the table never registered on his face as he asked Kate how she was enjoying her barely touched dinner. Stammering her answer, Kate turned her attention to her plate.
“For the right amount of money I’ll retrieve ‘bout anything.” Eliot paused to watch the writer chewing on the information he had so far.
Just as the silence at the table was about to turn uncomfortable it was Martha with her impeccable timing that blurted out.
“What about Kate?”
Blue/grey eyes twinkling with mischief and laughter, Eliot answered. “I did Kate for free.”
Watching the slow creep of red up Kate’s neck and face, Eliot excused himself to bring dessert and coffee into the living room.
“You retrieved Kate?” Castle asked on his return. “Stubborn as she is you probably had to force her to leave at gun point.” Rick snarked.
“Don’t like guns.” Eliot stated flatly. “’Sides—Kate’s a reasonable woman when you explain things to ‘er.”
The members of the Castle family turned to look at the detective.
“What? I gathered all my facts and made a mature decision.” She stated flatly.
The hitter arched an eyebrow as if to say, ‘oh really’. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorway leading to the living room.
Nate started to chuckle at the familiar stance and expression Eliot used on his teammates. Hearing that chuckle, Kate threw her hands in the air.
“Fine. He told me if I didn’t stop acting like a spoiled brat he’d turn me over his knee in front of God and everyone.”
She stood from the table and flounced into the other room to the sounds of laughter.
“She was just a bit of 18 at the time.” Eliot offered.
Kate heard Eliot’s quiet rumble in the midst of the laughter. Whatever he said soon brought it to an end.
An arm around her waist and cheesecake waved under her nose with a whispered, ‘sorry, girl’, was Eliot’s peace offering.
A sharp elbow to the ribs that didn’t even cause ripple in the muscled frame was her reply as she snatched the plate from his hand.
“I’m never going to hear the end of it, you know?” Kate grumbled around a forkful of cheesecake.
“But he’s distracted from the real story.” Eliot added quietly.
Shortly after, Eliot gathered up Nate, with the excuse of catching an early flight, left the Castle residence. Kate followed close behind saying she had court in the morning.
As the door closed behind their guests, Martha turned to her son.
“You do realize you learned next to nothing, darling.”
“Yeah, but Grandma he was like a character from a Ludlum novel—handsome, mysterious—makes you want to drape yourself across him and confess to anything.” Alexis sighed dreamily.
Castle rolled his eyes silently agreeing with his daughter. “Not to worry, ladies. Tomorrow is poker night, and what I can’t find out there I can find out other ways.”
“Good luck with that, darling.” Martha grabbed her coat and bag.
“Where are you going this late, Mother?” Rick asked.
“After show party.” She waved absently on her way out the door.
Blue eyes turned on his red-headed daughter. “Homework?”
“Done.” She crowed.
“Good you can help me with the dishes.” Rick grinned wickedly.
“Daaadd.” She whined on her way to the kitchen.
Poker the next evening with Patterson, Cannell and Kate’s captain, Roy Montgomery, soon showed Castle how turned around he was about Eliot Spencer and his profession, especially after he mentioned Nathan Ford, and the story about a chef that took down a Russian mob enforcer at a wedding.
“Oh Ricky,” Cannell laughed with tears rolling down his cheeks, “you’re lucky you still have your apartment, daughter and mother if you crossed swords with those two.” He wiped his eyes. “I wondered if the rumors about Masconi’s daughter’s wedding were true.”
“Nate seems like a regular enough guy it was Spencer that seems kind of dodgy.” Rick defended.
“Eliot Spencer is at the top of his field. What happened to the Butcher of Kiev is proof of that.” Patterson commented as he folded his hand.
“Kate, Alexis, my mother, and Mattos are besotted. It’s like he’s a cross between Julia Child and James Bond.” Castle whined. “He retrieves people for a living—what is that?” He spread his hands in frustration.
This started the three men to laughing raucously.
“For the right price, Spencer will retrieve anything—anywhere.” Cannell tried to stifle his laughter.
“How’d he get to be friends with Kate?” Rick turned to the captain.
“I don’t know the story, just that he stops by once in a while, he’s not wanted for anything that I know about or want to know about.” Roy answered pointedly.
Castle wanted to thump his head on the table. He didn’t know much more now than he did before he sat down.
Two weeks later he was still wrestling with the character he’d modeled after Eliot Spencer. He heard the apartment door slam. Assuming it was his daughter finally getting home he closed out his manuscript and headed for the living room.
“Mother?” Rick was confused. “Where’s Alexis?”
“I haven’t seen her since breakfast, darling. I had auditions today.” Martha answered while hanging her coat in the closet. “Did she have one of her school things?”
“No.” Castle checked his watch. “She should have been home a couple hours ago.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Voicemail.”
He started dialing the school and her friends’ numbers, but no one had seen Alexis since school. His next call was to Beckett.
When he got to the station, Beckett met him at the door.
“Come on…we gotta go.” Kate raced by heading for her car.
“Where?!...Did you find her?!” Castle hurried after her.
“Maybe. Someone called in a riot at the bar where you played poker with those Russian mob guys.”
“Nobody in that neighborhood calls in anything!” Rick quickly buckled his seat belt as the tires squalled for purchase on the blacktop.
“Exactly. I’d almost bet you I know who caused that riot and why.” Kate’s head swiveled as she pushed the sedan through New York City traffic.
“Are you going to share with the best of the class?” Rick snarled. “And tell me how this helps us find Alexis.”
“Something must have happened between Eliot and Nate. Eliot called to say he was passing through town on his way out of the country…” Kate’s eyes landed on Castle briefly, “he didn’t sound happy.”
“What does the state of Spencer’s sex life have to do with Alexis?!” The writer’s frustration level was growing exponentially.
“I think Eliot’s retrieving Alexis.” Kate mumbled.
“What! How does a riot in a Russian mob bar equal Eliot Spencer retrieving my daughter? How would he even know she was missing.”
“You were the reason we arrested a table full of Russian mobsters.” Kate reminded the novelist. “Eliot always knows what happening wherever he lands, and when Eliot’s in a bad mood he likes to find…something to release his frustration.”
“You think they took Alexis as some sort of retribution?” Rick sounded incredulous.
“Things like that happen in the real world, Castle.”
Rick sat back limply his face pale in the early evening twilight. The rest of the ride was silent.
When they stepped into the bar the sight that met made them stop to stare wide-eyed. Kate’s gun was drawn when she looked behind the bar where a man slowly stood from his hiding place.
“What happened?” Kate asked as they walked toward the bar, stepping lightly around bodies and debris.
“одинокий волк.” The trembling man answered.
“What’d he say?” Castle continued to stare at the moaning groaning bodies starting to move on the floor and tables.
“Lone wolf.” Kate answered curtly.
“A what?” He looked back at the detective.
The bartender began rambling in Russian.
“English.” Kate insisted.
“I was minding the bar when little man with big attitude came looking for red haired, green eyed girl. When no one answered him, he asks in Russian. Valslov told him is girl his payment for men he lost because of her father. That made little man very angry. He grabbed Valslov. Then Valslov’s men tried to grab him, and it was releasing of hounds of hell.” He poured himself a shot of vodka. After downing it he finished the story.
“He used Valslov’s head to open door to room where he’d put the girl. He took girl and left,” He looked at his watch, “twenty minutes ago.”
While he was telling his story, Beckett was on the phone with the station house. The bar was soon crawling with uniformed cops and paramedics.
Kate watched as Castle sifted from foot to foot.
“Shouldn’t you be getting yourself home, Castle?” Kate prompted.
Rick took off like a gold medalist in the 100 yard dash.
He was breathless by the time he came through the penthouse door. Sitting on his couch was Eliot Spencer—scraped, bruised, and dusty all mixed with bloody splatters—some of it his own. Wrapped around him like he was the world’s best teddy bear was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen—his dusty, bruised, and tattered around the edges daughter.
Martha rushed from her room. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a glare from the man on the couch sent her back to the other room.
Castle dropped to his knees and ran his hands gently over the bright hair.
“Is she?” He whispered.
“Scared, pissed, bruised, but okay.” Eliot growled. “She just dropped off. Wouldn’t let go long enough to shower or go to her room. Brave kid ya got, Castle.”
“I know. I have no idea where she gets it from.” He smiled weakly.
The girl in question rubbed her face against Eliot’s chest like a sleepy kitten and blinked blearily.
“Daddy!” She toppled them both over as she threw herself in her father’s arms.
After babbling for the next ten minutes, Rick finally got her on her feet and sent her room to shower while he ordered dinner. Hearing this Martha left the safety of her room just in time to see Eliot’s right hand connect with Rick’s jaw. The novelist landed back on the floor. The hitter grabbed Castle’s shirt front and pulled him up to where they were nose to nose.
“You ever pull another dumb ass stunt that puts that girl at risk again, and what you saw in that bar is gonna look like my gramma’s Tuesday quiltin’ circle.” Eliot snarled.
He let go Rick’s shirt front dropping the taller man back to the floor. Nodding in Martha’s direction with a softly spoken, ‘ma’am’, Eliot ghosted out of the apartment.
The next afternoon, the phone rang.
“Beckett.”
“Where’s Spencer?”
“Hello to you, too, Castle. How’s Alexis?”
“Better than me. Eliot?” Rick insisted.
“Gone. Flew out this morning.”
“What about Nathan?”
“No idea. Reason Eliot was a little out of sorts.” Kate poked at Castle.
“If he was only a little out sorts this morning then he mellowed considerably from last night.” Rick muttered rubbing his bruised jaw.
“What was that, Castle?” Kate grinned at the writer’s words.
“I just wanted to thank him for getting Alexis back for me.”
“He knows, Castle.” Kate said softly.
Six months later.
Castle’s attention returned to the outside world. He left behind the further adventures of Nikki Heat needing to flesh out the details for the upcoming chapters.
He was stretching the kinks out of his cramped muscles on the way to the kitchen. He stopped when he saw his daughter coming down the stairs dressed to the nines.
“Wow! You look great! You didn’t say anything about a date.” Rick looked confused.
“It’s not a date—really.” Alexis smiled wide. “Kate and I going to dinner.”
“Kate? You and Detective Beckett are going to dinner?” Now Castle was more than confused.
The red head bobbed in agreement just as the doorbell rang.
“Gotta go! We won’t be out too late.” She bubbled as she headed for the door after kissing her dad on the cheek.
Rick just stood dumbfounded until he saw his mother.
“You knew about this?” He pointed toward the door.
“Hmmm, oh yes.” Martha was slightly vague as she pulled her attention from the script she was reading. “Something about a friend just got in town from the Middle East…on the way to Boston for opening of some other friend’s musical.”
Four hours later, Rick heard a key in the lock. He looked up from his laptop as Alexis came through the door wrapped in a beautiful Pashima shawl she didn’t have when she left. He watched as a man with long dark hair bowed low over his daughter’s hand, brushing a kiss across her knuckles.
“I had a great time. Thank you.” Alexis gushed.
“Take care yerself, sweetheart.” A gravelly drawl floated across the room.
“When will you be back?” She asked with a hitch in her voice.
Broad shoulders shrugged. “I’m like a bad penny, darlin’…you never know when I’ll show up.” Eliot smirked over her shoulder at Castle.
The door closing broke Rick out of his trance. He rushed to the door and pulled it open, but the hallway was empty.
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-05 05:01 pm (UTC)Moar please?? Now??
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Date: 2009-11-05 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-05 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-05 11:05 pm (UTC)Down Bunny! *snaps whip & grabs chair* LOL
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Date: 2009-11-06 04:13 am (UTC)I don't care if it's about Rick sowing his wild oats or how Eliot really had to retrieve Kate (and/or why) or if it's a whole new story about Castle trying a new restaurant with Martha & Alexis + the fill-in chef is Eliot. *headdesk* sorry, I'm giving you ideas. again.
The girl in question rubbed her face against Eliot’s chest like a sleepy kitten and blinked blearily. Not gonna lie, I'm jealous.I love this Eliot so freakin' much. ♥ thank god he gives Castle a bit of a wake-up call. & then he takes Alexis + Kate to dinner! aww...
The dialogue with the Russian guy behind the counter referring to Eliot as "little man" completely cracked me up. as did the fact that Castle got absolutely nowhere with the poker game.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 07:00 am (UTC)Anytime you want to write more of this, y'know. *hugs fic*
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Date: 2009-11-06 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-06 01:11 pm (UTC)*Sigh* There's probably going to be more. All the Mr. Pointy Sticks & plot bunnies are wearing me down. *G*