2x12 spec

Have an idea about some of the stuff that goes on in "A Rose for Everafter"? Notice some things that might be significant later? Or just some fun facts to share? Have at it here...

* Kyra would probably have moved to London right after graduation, or shortly thereafter. If we're to take the actor's ages as the characters', then Kyra was a year behind Castle at college (Milano is a year younger than Fillion). That would make her a sophmore and him a junior when they met (they were together three years), and fits with the idea that she was still studying while he was writing the second novel. (Then again, it also fits that he'd be writing instead of studying himself.)
* Either way, that would mean Castle probably wrote 'In a Hail of Bullets' in his sophmore year (Kyra says he was fresh off his first bestseller when they met, and IRL it usually takes about a year between submission, acceptance and publication.)
* 'A Rose For Everafter' was then probably published the year after Castle graduated. The dedication is ambiguous -- it could have been written while they were still together, or after she'd gone to London as a message to come back. Either way, Castle's heart does seem to have been well and truly broken when the relationship ended.
* Which suddenly explains so much about Meredith. Again, if we go by actor ages in the face of no other information, Castle is 39, which would put him at about 23, 24 when Alexis was born. That would make Meredith the rebound from his relationship with Kyra, and the 'right thing at the time' could certainly refer to marrying her because she was pregnant (still unclear on any explanation for Gina :). It could mean that Meredith was actually just a wild, crazy fling which unexpectedly turned into something permanent. If the relationship had never been terribly serious, the shock of it suddenly turning so might explain her abandoning Alexis to her father at such an early age a little better than simply not wanting to live up to the responsibility of a baby. It also somewhat explains why a ne'er do well playboy, already rich and famous, would get married and have a baby so young -- if everyone's expectations of him were no better than Sheila Blaine's (Kyra's mother, who clearly didn't think much of him at all), it would be just like Castle to confound them by doing 'the right thing', particularly since Meredith is a flibbertygibbet who probably didn't even notice she was pregnant until it was far too late to do anything about it.
* Of course, it woudn't be outside Martha's characterisation to have made sure her son didn't abandon Meredith the way Castle's father abandoned her, or outside his to have married Meredith for exactly the same reason. (See also 1x06 for more on Meredith.)
* One other possibility is that Meredith was actually an instant rebound, as in immediately after Kyra went to London, and so the end of the relationship is actually Castle's fault because he got married while she was away 'thinking about it', and probably before they'd formally broken up.
* On a completely different note, Ryan recognises the picture of the guy who called Sophie as a known drug dealer, suggesting he may have earned his detective badge in Narcotics.